I met Nikolai Kuleba 6 years ago and was impressed. Nikolai is the Child Ombudsman of Ukraine. He reports to the President of the country. I must admit after I first met him I checked him out. Was he the real deal? I asked members of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada and found that he was one of the few trusted leaders in the country. As Ontario’s Child Advocate I agreed to sign an MOU with Nikolai’s Office to mutually support each other’s work. Nikolai has a vision for Ukraine. The country still has over 100,000 children living in orphanages. This a legacy of the Soviet system of government. Nikolai is determined to deinstitutionalize and see the country provide community based service support to families.
I have agreed to build on my relationship with Ukraine by supporting the country and Nikolai in establishing a hub for youth leaving care and supporting family based care rather than institutional care. Nikolai has also asked for support in developing a national youth council with strong representation from the ranks of Ukraine’s most marginalized including children in care.
Want to learn more. Email Theelman360@gmail.com
February 2020
In Ukraine over 100,000 children live in orphanages. Some are there placed by child protection. Others are placed there by parents who have decided they don’t have the capacity or resources to care for their children. There is no real community based family and child support system in the country. Orphanages recruit children from impoverished families promising their parents a better life for their child. Sadly life in many orphanages is isolating at best and brutal at worst.
I have been partnering with the Child Ombudsman of Ukraine to develop a youth and family hub to reconnect children in orphanages to their communities. Our work continues but the situation has changed dramatically
In response to the Caronavirus pandemic Ukraine’s government ordered almost 90,000 children to be returned home immediately. This meant families who had little or no capacity or resources to support a child without notice have a new child in their home during a country wide lockdown. Unemployment is at a record high, food is scarce, health care stretched beyond belief. The situation for children is dire. April 2020
This is Lina. She is a youth in care who left an orphanage in Ukraine. Ila is a youth with a disability. This is Ila after she spoke to the entire parliament of Ukraine. Those are all the Members giving her a standing ovation after she demanded that orphanages be closed and children with disabilities be granted respect and rights. This is the parliament which after Ila spike passed a motion unanimously to close all the orphanages by 2022.
I met Ila a year before this speech when I signed an MOU with the Child Ombudsman . She had never ever spoken out before but she was given an opportunity in a town hall I was at.
Look at her a year later.
Don’t tell me you young people that if you speak out it won’t make a difference. I will never forget her. She made a difference in my life because I heard her voice.
I signed an MOU with the Child Ombudsman of Ukraine to work together to create a hub for youth in and from orphanages. Rooted in belonging the hub will link resources, connections and opportunity for voice individualized for every child.
June 2020
