Ukraine: families for Children Program USAID / HOLT

Ukraine

Families for Children Program Implementing Partner: Holt International Children's Services Funding Period: September 2004 - December 2009 Amount: $3,229,790 Purpose: Develop sustainable and replicable family care models of services for children who otherwise would be institutionalized or on the street. Accomplishments Established model programs on family preservation in the pilot sites. Trained ninety-two regional trainers on foster care in collaboration with the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports, Families for Children Program Developed and tested practical guidelines on foster care (Families for Children Program Child Welfare Task Force). The guidelines were reviewed and approved by the ministry to be used country wide. Conducted two adoption surveys. Survey findings were used to improve the adoption process and develop a national strategy to build a strong and transparent adoption system. Established foster care services for HIV positive children. Supported seventy-eight grant projects, which reported the following: 9,155 people, including decision makers, service providers, parents and children participated in training activities. 16,067 media appearances (publications, TV/radio programs) addressed the issue of vulnerable children and families. 188 products (booklets, posters, films) were developed. 207 community events were conducted. 23 community groups were established. 1,200 children and 727 families received psychosocial support. services. 342 cases of child abandonment were prevented

As with many countries of the former Soviet Union, Ukraine’s rapid social, economic, and political changes have brought a serious crisis in the number of children living outside family care. Orphanages are full, and increasing numbers of children are forced to live on the streets. According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports Affairs, as many as 100,000 children are living without the care and protection of a family.

The government’s current system for caring for vulnerable children is essentially inherited from the Soviet era. Until recently, large childcare institutions remained the primary care option for Ukraine’s abused or abandoned children. Efforts to reform the system have proved moderately successful, but alternative approaches and services to assist children and families in crisis have been slow to develop.

To provide the foundation for sustainable, replicable family and child-welfare services in Ukraine, the USAID-funded Families for Children Program, implemented by Holt International, is developing programs for family preservation, domestic adoption, and foster care. Tailored pilot programs were initially launched in five sites, representing the Kyiv, Cherkassy, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts. At the request of the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports, the Families for Children program was expanded to Donetsk and Odessa oblasts by adding a pilot site in each location.

A series of community family care workshops brought together local and regional government agencies and NGOs to identify individual communities’ needs and discuss steps to strengthen and expand existing social services and introduce family-based alternatives to institutional care. The workshops helped improve communication and collaboration between different sectors such as health care, social services, education, and child protection, as well as initiating a dialogue between the public sector and civil society. A significant change in attitudes has been observed among the workshop participants. They came to understand the impact of institutional care on child development, acknowledged the need to revise work practices with families in crisis and children at risk, became open to the idea of mainstreaming children with special needs including HIV affected children, and voiced agreement for the need to develop a continuum of integrated family centered services that will have a strong emphasis on prevention. The workshop participants from each pilot site developed an action plan and elected a Local Coordinating Council to provide an oversight of action plan implementation.

Regional and local child welfare service providers from the FCP pilot regions participated in a comprehensive training program designed by the FCP Program to enhance knowledge and improve practical skills in working with families and children. To strengthen the capacity of service providers to delivery quality services, the Families and Children Program conducted a series of Study Tours and internships in the USA and Romania. Overall technical assistance and training efforts on the local, regional and national levels, addressed the professional development needs of service providers and decision makers in supporting them in the implementation of effective and good practices in family-centered child-focused and community-based services.

FCP has used the grant program’s flexible mechanisms to maximize the benefits for the pilot communities. On the one hand, FCP continued to use open competitions to stimulate innovative programs and services that address needs in the pilot communities. On the other hand, it used special purpose and quick-start partnership grants to build up and strengthen vital existing programs. The grant program has supported the creation, strengthening, and sustainability of family-based care components, such as family preservation, adoption and foster care models.

Helping local agencies and organizations effectively communicate and raise awareness about these issues and services is another important program goal. Holt has been working with community organizations to build their marketing and public relations capacities and equip them to use mass media to generate interest and recruit adoptive or foster families.