The film After the Rain is a stark reminder that behind every statistic on conflict-related separation is a child with a name, a family, and a story. A child whose rights have been violated. Its portrayal of Ukrainian children who were forcibly taken to Russia and placed in orphanages highlights the profound harm caused when war uproots children and severs their closest relationships. These experiences are not simply geopolitical tragedies – they are deeply personal ruptures with lifelong consequences for children’s safety, emotional wellbeing and development.
Forced separation, displacement, trafficking and coercive transfer are among the most damaging consequences of conflict. In Ukraine we are seeing this on a devastating scale. When child protection systems collapse – as they inevitably do in war – children become acutely vulnerable to exploitation and institutionalisation. In Ukraine, more than 100,000 children were living in institutional settings before the full-scale invasion – one of the highest rates in Europe – placing thousands at heightened risk when war made these facilities impossible to keep safe.
Conflict magnifies every danger inherent in institutional settings. It is impossible to provide consistent caregiving. Children’s lives and wellbeing are put in immediate danger. Staff and resources disappear, humanitarian access falters, and children inside become invisible to the systems meant to protect them.
Decades of evidence, including global systematic reviews and longitudinal studies, show that institutionalisation causes lasting harm to children’s development, mental health and attachment – harms that are dramatically intensified in conflict when oversight collapses and caregiving breaks down. Separation in these environments is not incidental – in some conflicts it is deliberately weaponised to weaken communities and erase identity.
Stories of rescue, such as those depicted in the film, are vital and courageous – but they also expose the limits of reactive interventions. Without strong national systems for family support, robust reunification pathways and community-level protection, children will continue to be taken, hidden, and harmed in every new crisis. The evidence from conflict-affected countries across the world is clear: children recover best through long-term, relational healing supported by families, trusted caregivers and communities – not through orphanages. Protecting these relationships must be at the centre of any response.
As the international community continues to respond to the war in Ukraine, child protection and care system reform must be recognised as central to crisis preparedness, humanitarian protection and eventual reconstruction. Investing in family tracing, reunification, trauma-informed support and the reform of care systems is essential to justice and recovery. If we are serious about protecting children in war, we must dismantle the structures that enable separation and invest instead in the family- and community-based systems that uphold children’s identity, dignity and rights.
And this is exactly what our team in Ukraine is continuing to achieve, in the most challenging of circumstances. Since the war began, our staff and partners have been on the ground in Ukraine, Romania and Moldova, helping shattered families to get the essential support they need to survive and rebuild their lives.
From providing food packages and baby supplies, to sourcing counselling and creating foster families, our teams in Moldova, Romania and Ukraine itself have worked tirelessly to support people in Ukraine who been caught up in this conflict, and those forced to pack up their lives and flee to safety in other countries.
Thanks to their dedication, professionalism and bravery that since the full-scale war began in Ukraine we have been able to:
- Provide in-depth support and prevention of family separation for 16,599 children in 8,345 families.
- Support 288 children evacuated from orphanages due to the war to stay in families rather than be placed in institutions.
- Support 150 children from orphanages transition back to their own or alternative families
- Set up 29 mobile teams, which have given support to 27,323 children in 17,612 families.
- Establish 11 counselling points – providing assistance to 18,317 children and their families.
- Create 13 sites for families with young children to take classes with local support services – helping over 8,900 children.
- Train 526 people as candidates to become foster carers or guardians.
- Train 2,528 professionals and giving 307 social workers support through supervision.
Of course, these numbers can’t adequately express each of the individual personal stories that lie behind them. Nothing truly can. But for as long as this conflict continues, and as long as our support is needed, we’ll continue to be there for the children and families who need us.
