Bitter winter temperatures and rising costs of food and fuel are pushing families to crisis point across war-torn Ukraine, and neighbouring Moldova and Romania.
When crisis strikes, the risk of children being placed in orphanages is dangerously high. At a time when they most need comfort, children are cut off from their only source of hope, of attention, of love. Without urgent humanitarian support, families are at risk of being torn apart.
Help us protect families and keep them together — through war, through winter and beyond.
What your donation could do
£ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
four emergency food packs for a family to help them find their feet and stay together
£ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
could provide art or music therapy and counselling for a pre-school child to help trauma-recovery
£ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
could provide three crisis kits for families with young children, including nappies and warm clothes
£150 could
support a foster family to care for a child for one month
£250 could
provide emergency practical support like food, medicine and heating to a family in deep crisis to help them get through the winter
Nelu's Story
This is Nelu*, one of five siblings. When their mother died suddenly, their uncle, Ion, needed support to look after them. But instead of helping, the authorities took the children away. Nelu was only two.
“The children were crying and screaming,” Ion remembers.
“It was like being kidnapped. Some strangers came and took them, put them in the car and drove away. It was an abuse; it was worse than an abuse.”
Ion’s legal battle to get the children back lasted two long years…until Hope and Homes for Children paid for the extra supplies Ion needed to convince the judge to let the children finally come home.
“We didn’t have a stove in their room,” Ion explains, “that was expensive… it was winter and we needed heat. So Mr. Radu helped me and bought a stove and a few days later, we brought the kids. When the children finally came home, it was such a great relief for us.”
This winter, instead of being trapped in the orphanage, cut off from the people who love him, Nelu is having snowball fights, playing on his uncle’s wheelbarrow and spending time with his family round a warm fire.
All because donations paid for emotional support, bedroom furniture, and a stove.
This winter, thousands more families are at risk of losing their children as Ion did. But Hope and Homes for Children are working tirelessly to prevent this; providing emergency food, clothes and heating, and strengthening families with help finding accommodation and work.
Help families stay together
This winter, a donation from you could be the difference between two stark realities for a vulnerable child. The devastating loneliness of an orphanage, with no one to love them or give them a hug. Or a joyous time to laugh, play and celebrate being together as a family. With your help, we can reach more families on the brink of survival and support them to stay together – through war, through winter and beyond.
About Hope and Homes for Children
Every child deserves the love and belonging of a safe family home–never the violence, abuse and neglect suffered in orphanages.
Hope and Homes for Children is an international charity that works to stop the institutionalisation of children.
Since 1994, we’ve inspired the UN, EU and local and national governments worldwide, from Romania to Rwanda, to close the doors of orphanages forever.
In their place, we fight to keep families together, to reunite them, and to create new ones – always working with children, for children.
Image credits: Andreea Tănase / Hope and Homes for Children