ALMOST 5,000 ADDITIONAL FOSTER FAMILIES NEEDED IN UKRAINE AS WAR LEAVES MORE CHILDREN WITHOUT PARENTAL CARE

Toronto, March 17, 2025 – Almost 5,000 trained foster families are needed in Ukraine to help children currently living full-time in institutions move into safer family-based care arrangements, especially as the war leaves more children without parental care and at risk of being admitted into institutions, Save the Children said.

The child rights organisation is calling for a renewed push and funding for deinstitutionalization reform in Ukraine, including additional training, preparation and support for foster families to ensure they have the right skills to care for children transitioning from institutions. Foster families are an essential pillar of deinstitutionalization reform.

Ukraine has one of the highest numbers of children in institutional care in Europe. There are about 89,700 children learning or living in institutions, with around 26,900 children residing full-time in these facilities. Thousands of children living in full-time institutional care have mental or physical disabilities and an estimated 5,150 or so children are orphans or deprived of parental care.

The government of Ukraine has committed to overhauling its child protection system – motivated in part by the European Union accession process – and has a strategy for ensuring all children can grow up in a family environment. However, Save the Children said insufficient funding and resources, ineffective coordination between agencies and the war were delaying reforms.

In Ukraine there’s a large gap in trained foster caregivers. In 2024, there were 4,454 fosters caregivers in Ukraine, and Save the Children estimates that a further 4,895 trained and supported foster caregivers are urgently needed to provide family-based care to the 26,900 children currently living full-time in institutions.

Decades of research have shown that children raised in institutions face profound impacts on their physical and mental health and are often poorly prepared for life outside these institutions. Save the Children’s child protection staff have seen institutions where children have no personal belongings and very little privacy, sleeping in rooms with up to 20 bunk beds and using one bathroom between 20 to 40 children. Children with disabilities are especially vulnerable and often do not receive the specialized care, education and support they need.

The war in Ukraine – now in its fourth year – has left even more children without parental care and at increased risk of being placed in institutions. Some parents have been killed in attacks, are missing or have been separated from their children, while other caregivers have lost almost everything in the war and can no longer financially support their children.

The war has also negatively impacted children in some institutions, with several facilities in the east and south of Ukraine forced to evacuate to safer regions or across borders, causing extreme psychological distress for children. Many of these children were also exposed to bombing, shelling and the upheaval of being suddenly moved between facilities.

Yuliia*, 36, from the Dnipropetrovsk region of eastern Ukraine, was inspired to become a foster caregiver after her daughter was born with cerebral palsy and her husband at the time refused to raise a child with a disability and left. Yuliia, able to raise her daughter in a family, went on to become a foster caregiver, including taking in four siblings just after the full-scale war started in 2022.

“I learned about something called a big foster family. Before that, I didn’t even know such a thing existed. I thought children were only adopted. And that’s when I made my decision. I understood that this decision would be for life. And I wanted it. I chose to live for my children. I was so sure of this decision back then, and to this day, I have not regretted it for even a second. Not even a tiny bit.

“In many areas that were formerly occupied, I understand, many children have been left orphaned — so many children. This is our common tragedy, and we must support each other, help each other, and give love to these children. I understand that you can’t replace parents, but at least they shouldn’t end up in institutions. At the very least, they should be raised in a family.”

Rachel Watkins, Save the Children’s Alternative Care & Deinstitutionalization Technical Advisor in Ukraine, said:

“Children raised in Ukraine’s institutions face profound impacts on their physical and mental health. Institutions can also have long-term consequences on the child’s life. For example. we know of a story where siblings living in an institution were separated. The sister was adopted, lived in a loving family and thrived. The brother was moved from one institution to another and eventually ended up in prison. His story could have had a much better ending if the siblings had been placed in family-based care together.

 “The government of Ukraine must urgently renew its efforts on deinstitutionalization reform and the international community must provide funding to ensure these reforms are fully implemented so children are not suffering in institutional care for years to come. Every child in Ukraine has the right to grow up in a safe and nurturing family environment.

 “The most vulnerable children living full-time in institutions must be immediately prioritized for family reunification or placement with foster families. To ensure the safe transition of children from institutions to family-based care, we must also provide foster families with training, preparation and support so they can provide the best possible care for the children.”

Save the Children has been working in Ukraine since 2014 and scaled up operations after the war escalated in February 2022. The international child rights agency is committed to deinstitutionalization and is working closely with authorities and 25 partners to implement and coordinate the delivery of Better Care Reform in Ukraine.

With its partner Hope and Homes for Children, Save the Children supports foster families with training and cash assistance, and works with authorities to reunite children with their biological families and to place children with foster families. Save the Children also supports families at-risk of separation, providing financial, legal and mental health support to keep families together.

ENDS

Content: VIDEO STORY – Yuliia* (36), foster families, institutions and war in Ukraine

 Notes to editors

• Data provided by the Ombudsman of Ukraine at a presentation on 28 January 2025 says there are 89,797 children in institutions in Ukraine, of these children, 26,927 live full-time in institutions, while the remaining children live in the facilities part-time, either going home in the evenings or on weekends.
• As of July 2024, there are 4,454 fosters caregivers in Ukraine who care for 14,988 children (this figure excludes guardianship and adoption). Foster families in Ukraine can have anywhere between one and 10 children, or an average of 5.5 children. However, Save the Children recommends a maximum of three children per family to ensure children can be adequately supported.
• Based on the need to remove the most at-risk children from institutional care – the 26,927 children currently living full-time in facilities – Save the Children estimates that a minimum of 4,895 foster families are needed to meet current and future demand for family-based care.
• Institutions in Ukraine include orphanages, medical institutions, psychiatric facilities, boarding schools and children’s homes.