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If…

You do care

You have a heart for other people’s pain

You are willing to give a hope for a loving and caring family to a child

You are willing to make a difference at least in one child life

You want to make at least one dream of an orphan come true, and share their loneliness — this can be a start, and a first victory over your self.

There are several forms of family placement for orphans. Some are well known; others are still new in this country. We want to introduce you to adoption, fostering, fostering family and a family-run orphanage.

Adoption is taking a child into the family with all rights of a son or a daughter. This helps the child feel himself/herself as a true family member and gives him/her a right to inherit property. Adoption can be performed by a family couple or a single person; the state gives no financial support (but for the cases of adoption of babies where special benefits are paid and a maternity leaf is possible). However, the issue of permanent state support to adopted children has been widely discussed lately, and we cannot exclude the possibility of a positive decision here. One of the major hindrances to it is the archaic law defining secrecy of adoption. There are five countries in the world (at most), including Ukraine and Belarus, that have this statement supported legally. If we understand the words of a mother who adopted two children and said, “It is more important for a child to know he/she was born right in the heart rather than under the heart” and realize the threat of hiding the truth from the child — we can definitely say that truth and true love are far more important for a healthy and strong family. Adopting parents can give the child their last name, change his/her name, patronymic, the place and date of birth.

This is the highest level of responsibility for a child’s life and for his/her sound development. Adoption gives the child incomparable sense of security and helps him/her experience the true love and care of the parents.

Fostering and custody is taking the child into a family as a foster child to care for his/her well-being, upbringing and education. The last name of the foster child is hardly ever changed, and the foster parent cannot be written into the metrics as the parent of the child. Fostering is possible for the orphans up to age 15, and custody for orphans from 15 to 18 years of age. Foster parents receive financial support from the state, which as by January 1, 2009 made up:

501 UAH per month for children from birth till 6 years of age,

718 UAH per month for the children from 6 to 18 years of age (or till 23 years of age if the child continues education) on condition that the foster child is living at your place. The foster parent has a right to take the child off the adoption list and he/she is obliged to report annually to the childcare authorities his/her activities done in the best interests of the child.

Fostering family (FF) is a family that took orphans and children taken from their parents by the state (one to four children). There is state financial support given to FFs, which equals two minimum living wages (as set by the Budget Law) per a child taken into the family. For each child from birth to 6 years of age this support will be 1002 UAH, and for each child 6-18 years of age it will be 1436 UAH. The parents of FF receive an allowance, which equals 30% of the benefits received for the children.

Family-run orphanage (FRO) is a separate family initiated by a couple or a single person (they will be the care providers) that takes no less than five orphans or children taken from their parents by the state. There cannot be more than 10 children in the family (including biological children of the care providers, if any. Like with FF there is financial support given to FROs equal to two minimum living wages per child taken into the family. The parents-care providers receive an allowance, which equals 30% of the benefits received for the children. Besides, some help might be given as to improvement of living conditions (if they demand it).

These legal differences of various forms of placement of the children do not have any difference from spiritual or emotional perspective (lest the adopting parents choose to keep the adoption secrecy — its causes and necessity can be discussed with childcare social workers). In each of the described cases the parents take complete responsibility for the present and future of a young person; they teach him/her to live and model a healthy family relationships that the children can later rely on in their adult life.

Of course, one should not jump into action impressed by the eyes of the children from the orphanage. Do not haste. Take your time to think through the for and contra. But do not pass by nonchalantly — for your home might become the home for a child and give him/her a second chance… Talk to the members of your family about it and we also recommend a consultation of a psychologist working with adopting/fostering families and adopted children. There are specialists in this field in every regional Childcare department. Their calling and responsibility is to provide information and consultation on issues related to orphans and parentless children.

Today there are only four countries in the world that have no orphanages: Iceland, Norway, Great Britain, and Slovakia.

You can make things change in Ukraine.

THEY ARE WAITING FOR YOU!