Ukraine
The House of Life works within the abandoned babies' unit of a poorly funded hospital in Ukraine.
Its aim is to bring about positive change to the way these abandoned babies and orphans are treated and cared for until adoptive or foster families are found for them. Due to a lack of hospital staff resources, these babies are traditionally ignored, apart from the basic feeding and bathing necessary for survival. These children are at extreme risk of becoming institutionalised and suffering from any number of behavioural disorders that result from a lack of nurture in the early years.
The House of Life has created a 'home' within the hospital for the 24-hour care of these children. It employs dedicated caregivers who not only meet the children's basic needs but also help develop and nurture them. Children are also provided with social stimulation to ensure they are not isolated from the outside world.
The House of Life works in conjunction with the local social services department, other local NGO's and the hospital administrative staff to either return children to their biological parents or find alternative long-term care arrangements for them.
Riverview Children's Foundation is partnering with the House of Life to employ permanent caregivers for the children.
There are an estimated 103,000 children in Ukraine who are either orphans, who have been abandoned, or whose parents were deprived of parental custody. The key causes of this include family poverty and childbearing by under-age mothers.
This obviously leads to a huge number of children who live on the streets, or who live in orphanages and other institutions. Orphanages in Ukraine are typically understaffed and under-resourced, and as a result, children are given inadequate love and attention to enable them to grow into physically, mentally and emotionally healthy young adults.
Father’s House Family Care Centre works with orphans, providing them with the opportunity to live and grow in a loving family environment. It consists of six family groups who raise up to eight children each. All families live in the building of the Family Care Centre that has been especially built for this project. Father's House is providing a healthy and loving environment for the children who stay in the program until they are adopted or are able to live independently.
Riverview Children's Foundation is partnering with Father's House to provide nutritional food for these children.
