Long-term support for children and families by SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine and its partners
Since the full-scale Russian invasion, the war has devastated the country, destroying the lives of thousands of people, breaking up and separating families, killing and injuring children, depriving them of their rights and of the protection, stability and normality they need. Since February 2022, SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine and its partners have been working to meet the urgent needs of children and their families and to prevent them from being separated. They have already helped more than half a million people through psychological support, educational support and economic assistance, among other measures.
The Ukrainian economy is in dire straits, infrastructure and energy systems have been partly destroyed, and some 800 health facilities and 1,500 schools have also been destroyed or damaged. Access to essential services is increasingly difficult, and education is suffering.
Within three years, 74% (source: The Economist magazine quoted in an article by SOS Children’s Villages International) of Ukrainians have been separated from their loved ones. For everyone, young and old, the war has caused a huge amount of losses, physical and emotional damage, psychological distress and deep trauma that will take a long time to disappear. According to the UNHCR, 1.5 million children are at risk of long-term mental health problems.
The war persists and continues to cause insecurity and suffering. In Ukraine, 12.7 million people are still in need of humanitarian aid, and 2.9 million children are in need of protection. There are an estimated 3.7 million internally displaced people and 6.9 million refugees, the majority of whom are women and children. Ukrainians need peace, but in the new global context the outlook seems more uncertain than ever, and new threats are emerging.
17,000 children without parental care
Nearly 2,000 children are said to have lost their parents, who are either dead or missing, and more than 17,000 are without parental care. A further 20,000 have been forced to leave their homes or have been deported. According to SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine, there is an urgent need to reform the system of alternative care, and more foster families (currently 400) are needed, as its director Serhii Lukashov states: ‘We need to hire ten times as many foster families as we currently have, to prevent a new generation from growing up in institutions’.
Over half a million people supported
Since 2022, SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine and its partners have been providing essential services to the most vulnerable, focusing on child protection, humanitarian assistance, mental health and education. In this field, it has distributed tablets to pupils, offered classes in villages and organised lessons in basements. Its activities are carried out by multidisciplinary mobile teams, as well as by family strengthening centres with social services. Financial assistance, psychosocial support, support for injured children and advocacy work to reform the system of alternative care for children have been at the heart of its actions. To date, more than half a million people have benefited from its services.
We need to hire ten times as many foster families as we currently have to prevent a new generation from growing up in institutions.
– Sehrii Lukashov, National Director of SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine
Vibrant message from the director of SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine
On 24 February, we are sharing with you the video testimony of Serhii Lukashov, who describes the work of the organisation, and talks about keeping families together and the role of social centres.
He talks about the children who play and take classes there when they can no longer go to school, the teams of social workers who visit isolated communities, and above all the mutual aid and long-term support provided by SOS Children’s Villages. ‘We are an organisation where people help each other and we won’t give up! His message of hope, solidarity and resistance reminds us that ‘the world must not forget Ukraine’, otherwise ‘its children will be abandoned once again’.
Video credits: ©Nino Aman;Katerina Ilievska-SOS Children’s Villages
Thank you to the generous donors from Luxembourg
In 2024, together with our generous partners and donors in Luxembourg, we continued to work alongside our sister association SOS in Ukraine to support its emergency aid programme.
Learn more and support the project: