As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, an increasing number of Ukrainians are adopting orphans. DW spoke with foster parents about the difficult process.
Adoption rates on the rise in Ukraine
As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, an increasing number of Ukrainians are adopting orphans. DW spoke with foster parents about the difficult process.
“I realized that I couldn’t bear loneliness and that somewhere, there was a small child who was also alone and needed a mother, a home and everything a family can offer. I can give love, and I want to take care of someone,” said Olha from Sumy in northeastern Ukraine.
She lost her 27-year-old son Maksym at the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 when he was defending the port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov.
“I know what it means to be alone,” Olha told DW. “If I had a big family, I would have support.”
After her son’s funeral, Olha decided to adopt a girl, as a boy could have reminded her of her late son. She submitted all the necessary documents to the authorities and received permission to adopt a girl. She then completed a state-run training course and has now been waiting a year for the girl to finally join her family.
“There are many children in orphanages, but not all of them can be adopted. It’s not easy when you’re already set on having a child, looking around for books and dolls, and having to wait. But you don’t yet know what the girl will be like.”
Patience needed
In the first year of the war in Ukraine, the adoption rates in the country fell, said Vasyl Luzyk, who heads the National Social Service. While Ukrainians adopted just 752 children in 2022, rates climbed to 925 in 2023 and almost 600 in the first half of 2024.
One of those adopted children is 3-year-old Bohdan. He has been living for two weeks with Tatjana and her husband, who live in Lviv in western Ukraine and have two biological children, a 14-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.
“We always wanted to be one big family,” Tatyana told DW. “I think that’s how all adoption stories start.”
ConflictsUkraine
Adoption rates on the rise in Ukraine
Hanna Sokolova-Stekh09/29/2024September 29, 2024
As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, an increasing number of Ukrainians are adopting orphans. DW spoke with foster parents about the difficult process.
“I realized that I couldn’t bear loneliness and that somewhere, there was a small child who was also alone and needed a mother, a home and everything a family can offer. I can give love, and I want to take care of someone,” said Olha from Sumy in northeastern Ukraine.
She lost her 27-year-old son Maksym at the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 when he was defending the port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov.
“I know what it means to be alone,” Olha told DW. “If I had a big family, I would have support.”
After her son’s funeral, Olha decided to adopt a girl, as a boy could have reminded her of her late son. She submitted all the necessary documents to the authorities and received permission to adopt a girl. She then completed a state-run training course and has now been waiting a year for the girl to finally join her family.
“There are many children in orphanages, but not all of them can be adopted. It’s not easy when you’re already set on having a child, looking around for books and dolls, and having to wait. But you don’t yet know what the girl will be like.”
Patience needed
In the first year of the war in Ukraine, the adoption rates in the country fell, said Vasyl Luzyk, who heads the National Social Service. While Ukrainians adopted just 752 children in 2022, rates climbed to 925 in 2023 and almost 600 in the first half of 2024.
One of those adopted children is 3-year-old Bohdan. He has been living for two weeks with Tatjana and her husband, who live in Lviv in western Ukraine and have two biological children, a 14-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.
“We always wanted to be one big family,” Tatyana told DW. “I think that’s how all adoption stories start.”
Adopting Bohdan took nine months. Like Olha, Tatjana could hardly wait for the authorities to find a child for her to take in. She began searching herself, scouring a nationwide database of orphans and social networks. That’s when she came across a message about Bohdan, who had been evacuated from an orphanage in the Kharkiv area to the Ivano-Frankivsk region.
She recalled that the boy opened up to her at the very first meeting. “He is playful, open and cheerful.” The family visited Bohdan for several months, and finally, the couple received permission from the court to adopt him.
War complicates adoptions
When Russia launched its invasion in 2022, Ukraine banned foreigners from adopting Ukrainian children. Yet even for Ukrainians, adoptions proved difficult as the war made it harder for courts and state agencies to do their work. However, these problems were solved a few months later, said Daria Kasyanova of SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine, an NGO that looks after orphans.
Because of the war, entire orphanages were relocated to safer regions of Ukraine. Some children were taken abroad where they could not be adopted by Ukrainians. This changed, however, in June 2024.
“Foster parents asked for matters to be simplified,” Kasyanova told DW. Her organization provides financial support to families who want to adopt an orphaned child evacuated abroad. To do this, families must get to know the child online and then visit them abroad. “Almost 60 families have already contacted us, for whom we have paid for trips to various countries, including Poland, Germany, Turkey, Austria and Switzerland,” said Kasyanova.
