Just a couple of days ago a father told us that his child had previously had no interest in anything at all. Now he’s started showing interest in toys.
A new centre for children with disabilities opened on 30th March, in Bucha, Ukraine. Four months on, the centre is providing a vital day care service as well as long term support for families.
There were over 300 children with disabilities living in Bucha in 2021. At the time, essential services were already under resourced, leaving families without the support they needed to stay together. Then war broke out and Bucha was one of the first cities to fall under occupation.
The impact of war
“There were many damaged buildings”, Olena, Director of Centre for Complex Development and Support of Children, explains. “And it wasn’t only residential buildings. It was schools, nurseries, infrastructure enterprises – the buildings of organisations that provide services in our community”.
At the same time as vital infrastructure was being destroyed in Ukraine, the number of children in need of specialist services was continually increasing. We’re seeing children who are traumatised, who won’t talk or play, as well as more children needing medical care for disabilities.
“Analysing the situation recently”, Olena says, “we have come to the conclusion that the number of children with disabilities and developmental difficulties has increased significantly”.
Opening the new centre
Following assessments of the needs in the community, we identified a site in Bucha that would function well as a centre for disability support. Thanks to the supporters who make our work possible in Ukraine, we raised more than half a million pounds which was needed to transform the building from a gutted site to a modern facility. We’ve furnished and equipped the building, as well as recruited and trained staff and cover running costs.
The Day Care Unit currently supports 22 children with disabilities, while the Early Intervention multidisciplinary team have already provided consultations to 27 children and long-term support to 12 children.
Through these services, the team provides speech therapy, physiotherapy, trauma counselling, self-care training, and other services. What’s more, they have their own vehicles to bring families who need help with transportation to the site. And our mobile team works out of the centre, helping us reach even more families.
The difference the centre is making
1.2 million children are living in institutions across the world’s most fragile regions. The most effective way to protect children is to get them Back to Family before conflict hits. For the one in five children around the world already living in a conflict zone, projects like these provide the vital community infrastructure that stops families being torn apart during conflict and helps us get separated children Back to Family.
The centre is already helping to protect children and is making a tangible difference to families in Bucha.
“Hope and Homes for Children helped us bring our dream to life”, Olena says. “I’ve heard from parents more than once – a child with autism, at home she wasn’t able to speak, she would mostly point and gesture, but here she’s had to use more words, and she’s started speaking more.
Just a couple of days ago a father told us that his child had previously had no interest in anything at all. Now he’s started showing interest in toys.”
Before conflict hits, get children Back to Family.
You can support our work in Ukraine. Donate here or read more about what we do in Ukraine.
We’ve helped 4,796 children in Bucha since the war began.
