Silvia Aloisi. Margaryta Chonokondratenko. Zohra Besemra

LVIV (Reuters). Nina celebrated her 16th Birthday in a Lviv State Shelter for Children last week. She was far away from her friends and family in the east, as she fled the advancing Russian troops early in war II.

Nina, one of 23 children evacuated in Lysychansk from another childcare center near the eastern frontlines. Nina stated that she misses her family and is unsure when she’ll see them again.

“They came always to visit. “We’ve shared so many experiences together,” Nina said. Nina fled her home after her mother began drinking and brought men into the house following her father’s death.

Nina was initially going to live with her friend. However, Nina’s school learned and put Nina into Ukraine’s vast childcare system. Ukraine is home to the most children who are in state care across Europe. This is due to their broken families or too little income.

Nina isn’t interested in returning to her mother, and her mother doesn’t really want her there. However, Nina feels alone and stranded after the war.

Svitlana Havryliuk, director of Lviv shelter, and her staff state that they do their best to care for Nina and other children aged 3-18 under their supervision.

The vast Ukrainian state-run childcare program, which is a result of Soviet time’s prominence in the society, is currently under strain. Many people flee to their homelands, making it difficult for relatives to be traced.

According to Unicef (United Nations Children’s Agency), Ukraine housed 100,000 children in 700 state shelters and boarding schools before Russia invaded.

According to latest statistics, approximately 6.500 children have been relocated abroad or within the country since the outbreak of the conflict, according to data provided by the ministry of social policies.

About 47,300 children, or nearly half, have been returned in an hurried fashion to their legal guardians. Child psychologists and caregivers agree that this creates additional challenges.

Havryliuk said that the children are from areas where there is fighting. I don’t understand how war works… Where will they be located? It is impossible to know if their parents are still alive. How about an emergency?

The Lviv shelter doesn’t seem to have any idea about the fate of Nastya (aged 5-years-old) and her brothers (3 1/2 and 7 years), who were also taken from Lysychansk the same day as the outbreak of the conflict.

Olga Tronova was their caregiver and brought them to Lviv, in the west. She said that she didn’t know anything except that they had been taken from their mother, an alcoholic, late last year. Since then, no one has attempted to contact them.

As you can see, Nastya is playing outside in the sand. The brothers of Nastya climbed on and off a slide nearby.

TOUGH CHOICES

While some of Ukraine’s shelters have orphans, many of them were taken from homes where they are suffering from drug addiction, abuse, and alcoholism. Half of the children have some form of mental or physical disability.

Due to the large number of vulnerable children, as well as the short waiting time, Ukraine is very popular among adoptive families from the West.

U.S. government statistics show that Ukraine has been the number one European country adopted by U.S. parents in the last fifteen years.

Child welfare organizations such as Save the Children and Unicef have long questioned the system. They argue that families should always be supported before reaching breaking point.

Tens of thousands more children are now in state care because of the conflict.

Ministry for Social Policy stated that 230 state houses – which is a third of total number – had been evacuated as at March 25. Caregivers face difficult choices about whether to reunite the children with their parents, guardians or other relatives if this takes them farther from war zones.

Oleksii Helenukh, a child psychologist, is helping young people in Lviv. She said that sending their children home without proper screening could lead to more harm than good.

It is not a coincidence that children are removed from their parents. It is possible for things to get more difficult during wartime, if they were not provided for in peace.

Volodymyr Lis, the regional head for child safety under the ministry social policy in Lviv said that there were times when authorities had no choice but to protect children.

“The greatest danger is to be killed by a terrorist bomb,” I can assure you. It is evident that parents, no matter their identity, are parents.

CHILDREN TRAVEL ALONE

Children who were raised with their parents in fighting have had to be separated from their families. Many unaccompanied children are also crossing into neighboring countries, according to aid agencies.

Amanda Brydon is a Child Protection Expert at Save the Children. She has worked in Ukraine since 2014.

She said that these children could be on their way to Europe with relatives and friends. It is very concerning that people smuggle.

She said, “What we lack is a systemic registration and tracking system for these children.” It’s not easy to track them.

Lys said that things had changed since the start of war due to the assistance of foreign aid agencies both inside and outside Ukraine.

Unicef has estimated that the Kyiv government lost or destroyed 1.8 million documents, and the Kyiv government suspended all adoptions. This was in addition to tightening border controls and suspending any further disruptions caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

The move was welcomed by aid agencies.

Save the Children’s Brydon said that they were “inundated” with requests from potential adoptive families eager to help. However, he warned about the danger of not following legal guidelines and children being taken from their parents who remain alive.

That could lead to the children in the Lviv shelter, as well as those who are enrolled in state institutions, having to stay put until the end of war for 47 of them.

Tronova, Tronova the caregiver, recalls clearly the telephone call she received on Feb. 24, at 6:45 AM.

“Olga, now! “You need to take the children out,” the shelter principal instructed her before she heard an explosion. She raced to get the children and left her family behind.

The smallest children fell ill during the train journey from Kiev to Lviv. Havryliuk stated that all the children had symptoms of fever and nausea upon their arrival.

Since then, she and the other caregivers, helped by university students-turned-volunteers, have tried to restore a sense of normality and calm.

They are provided with nutritious food and sleep in comfortable dormitories decorated with animals, flowers and trees.

Before the war, neighbors who would not have spoken a word to each other had sent gifts of food, clothing and toys. A Polish charity brought stuffed teddy bears with French words written on them from France to Reuters’s office.

The danger of war can be seen even in Lviv’s relative calm, where there has been little damage from heavy bombing and fighting but nightly anti-raid alarms are a constant reminder that the city is not far away.

Havryliuk explained, “The children go to sleep and the siren sounds. Then they start screaming.”

The legal custody remains in place of all 23 Lysychansk-born children, except for two. Normal times courts will decide whether or not to remove parental rights from families.

Timofey 11 years old, a child suffering from psychiatric issues, was only two days away of being placed in foster home. However, that plan fell apart when he too was evacuated back to Lviv.

Tronova declared, “He is very upset.” “I can’t predict my future nor the childrens’.” All I can do is say that God has mercy on us.