Vital Emergency Fostering for Children in Ukraine

This is a story about a kind and polite little boy who deseprately needs a new Mommy and Daddy. Today, we can make this happen with your help.

Meet Misha*, a 4-year-old boy found on the streets of Kyiv one night, early October 2013. He was neglected by his mother who had recently returned from prison for the fourth time and experienced problems with drugs and alcohol. Misha’s Grandmother, who had been looking after the boy all this time, died unexpectedly in September 2013, just one month after Misha’s fourth birthday. That’s how he appeared on the streets of a residential suburban area of the Ukrainian capital that October night, cold, abandoned and all alone against the whole wide world.

Thanks to the work of the “Vital Emergency Fostering for Children in Ukraine” project and your generous donations, instead of staying in a shelter until further indefinite placement in the institutional care, Misha has found a loving home with the short-term and emergency foster carers: Natalia and Anatoliy. On the first days of his stay in a new home, Misha managed to surprise his foster parents by completely ignoring a big box with toys. “It seems that nothing interested Misha: neither toys nor playing with other children outside. Instead, he has spent ages writing letters to imaginary friends, making collages and drawings.” - says Natalia, his temporary “Mommy”. Creativity has most probably saved Misha from the trauma of separation with a significant family member who his late Grandma was. Misha does not remember his father; he does not like talking about his Mom or her partner. Because of the way the childcare system works in Ukraine, his 12-year-old stepbrother has been placed in the orphanage and has only few chances to be reintegrated with Misha again.

Two months later, the social services have confirmed inability of Misha’s biological mother to look after the boy in the future. The project workers are now in the process of looking for a permanent care solution for a boy: an adoptive or a lon-term foster family. “Misha is a very kind and polite little boy, who is very curious about each new day in this world. The only thing is, he just desperately needs a new Mommy and Daddy.” – says his short-term foster carer Natalia.

We know for sure how to make it happen. All we need is your help. Today is a Bonus Day on globalgiving.com. This means that every donation made will be 30% matched by the pledge. It also means that your help to children in need will go even further to ensure that this life-saving work is there 24/7.

• It takes less than $10 to provide accommodation and food for children like Misha for 1 day.
• And only $200 can keep children like Misha in urgent need of our support safe in a safe and secure family for 1 month.

So please donate whatever you can today, Wednesday, February 12 starting at 9:00 AM EST / 1:00 PM GMT at www.goto.gg/13047 until the matching funds lasts. Hurry up and please tell everyone you know about this cause, too.

We thank you for your generosity. On behalf of Misha and every child in need. 

* The names have been changed to protect a child's confidentiality. 

Meet Tetyana and Taras Gursky – short-term and emergency foster carers. They are one of the three families involved in the work of the “Vital Emergency Fostering for Children in Ukraine” project. For less than $30 a day the Gursky family provide 24/7 care and support to children who are in need of urgent protection due to cases of severe neglect, child abuse or abandonment. Their endless amount of energy and enthusiasm is multiplied by your kind donations – this yields great results which we are thankful for.

Over the past two years of the Gursky family has welcomed 8 children. Most of them have been removed from their biological families because of the potential threats to their lives. A mother of a one-month-old baby boy Oleg* has abandoned him in the maternity ward. While the project workers have been looking for potential adoptive parents, Oleg was looked after by the Gursky family. For 6 of the other children it was a similar story: two-and-a-half-year-old Artur* and his one-year-old little brother Zhenia*, two-and-a-half-year-old Glib* and his 18 months-old sister Marina*, as well as siblings Natasha* (three months old) and Vadim* (three years old). They have all been discovered by the social services while their biological parents – heavily abusing alcohol – by the time of the visit were missing. Next followed children’s placements with Mr and Mrs Gursky who have been working on restoring sometimes vitally missing motor and developmental skills of the children, but also filled each one of them with security and love they were all deprived of at those early stages of their lives. 

Tetyana Gursky, an emergency foster carer from Bila Tserkva, Kyiv Region, Ukraine says: “My work spurs this sense of vigour inside me every day. Otherwise, it would be impossible to work in tandem with social workers and biological parents of the fostered children for the families to be reunited again." In the end of September 2013, a five-month-old baby girl has been placed into the care of the Gursky family. Her mother Liuda, a young student without a partner or any support network decided to abandon her newly born baby girl. “I am sure that these are the consequences of post-natal depression, - says Mrs Gursky. She will take her time and change her mind eventually. Most importantly, she has to realise that there is help available. We are the help.”

In order to be able to continue this life-saving work, families like Taras and Tetyana Gursky need your support. So please donate whatever you can afford and tell everyone you know about this great cause.

We thank you immensely!

* All names of the children have been changed to protect confidentiality. 

Links:

• An article featuring project in "Vesti. Reporter" (in Russian)
• An article featuring project in "Focus" magazine (in Russian)
• Feature about the project in "Komsomolskaya Pravda v Ukraine"