For families facing hardship, especially families without support, everyday life can feel overwhelming. When parents themselves grew up without positive examples of care, or experienced life in an orphanage, the challenges multiply. Without help, children can grow up neglected or in unsafe conditions, placing families at risk of separation.
But this doesn’t have to be the outcome.
Our experience shows that when families receive the right support at the right time, we can keep families together. And crucially, that support is not only about material help or professional case management, important as those are. It’s also about walking alongside parents and helping them build the skills, confidence and routines every family needs to thrive.
The role of Family Assistants
Family Assistants are rooted in the communities they serve, working directly with families raising young children who are at real risk of separation. They understand what it’s like to live in a country that’s had four years of conflict, and the challenges that presents.
They visit families in their homes and take time to listen. What’s more, they help parents build practical caregiving skills, from childcare and hygiene to cooking, household management and navigating education or employment systems.
Often, the work is about simple, essential things – learning how to prepare meals, wash nappies, enrol a child in kindergarten, or create a safer home environment. For children, the impact is profound.
Svitlana’s story
Svitlana Kalachova knows this better than anyone. For the past two years, she’s worked as a Family Assistant in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, supporting sixteen families and helping protect the futures of sixty children.
“Every family is different,” Svitlana explains. “When I visit for the first time, I start with a conversation over tea. Many of the families I meet have very little social interaction. Often, they simply need someone to listen.”
Svitlana never does things for parents. She works with them, standing beside a mother as she learns, step-by-step, how to care for her children. “Only by doing it yourself do you learn,” she says.
Travelling between villages in a small car affectionately known as the “Swallow,” Svitlana reaches even the most remote families. Sometimes, her journeys include unexpected passengers, like the two chicks she once delivered to a family whose four-year-old son had long dreamed of having a chicken. The chicks became a source of joy for the child and a small source of stability for his mother. Every decision, Svitlana stresses, is made with parental consent and trust.
Some moments stay with her forever.
Supporting families through war
Svitlana has no favourites among the children. She loves them all equally and sincerely tries to help every child. Some stories, however, remain etched in her memory.
She recalls, with a tremble in her voice, how the children sometimes draw her in their pictures: “Most of the time, they draw their home and family members. Sometimes a dog or a goat. But occasionally, they draw me. It’s very touching because it shows the children see me as someone close to them.”
The work of Family Assistants may look simple, but its impact is immense. By supporting parents, strengthening families and building trust within communities, they help ensure children grow up where they belong – Back to Family, safe, loved and protected.
Read more about our work in Ukraine.
