Responding to Children’s Care in the Context of the Ukraine Crisis
Key Considerations and Recommendations
Eurochild is one of the co-contributors of this guidance document which provides a framework to support child protection practitioners and policymakers working both inside Ukraine and in host countries to implement responses related to children’s care in the context of Ukraine in line with international standards and good practice on children’s care and the provision of alternative care.
Conflicts have a massive impact on the systems that are meant to protect children, including the staff, services, and mechanisms that provide alternative care for children.
Humanitarian crises, such as conflict, disrupt children’s contextual, cultural, and social fabric. They undermine the ability of parents and other caregivers to provide appropriate care, placing enormous stress on caregivers’ mental health. Risks to children affected by conflict may include family separation, recruitment into armed forces or groups, sexual and gender-based violence, and psychosocial distress.
The current conflict situation in Ukraine raises specific considerations for children with regards to appropriate care both at the policy or system level and in work with individual children: the potential temporary need of alternative care; the availability of placements including at or near border locations, while children are in transit or when they have reached their destination in host countries; increased risks in residential care settings, particularly those in locations where there is active conflict; and increased strain on existing child protection and child welfare services in Ukraine and in host countries.
Key Sections of the Guide:
- Prevention and protection
- Movement and relocation
- Residential care
- Foster care
- Strengthening care and protection systems
- Family reunification
- Adoption and surrogacy
- International support
This document was developed under the auspices of the Ukraine Children’s Care Group. The group is convened by the Global Collaborative Platform on Transforming Children’s Care (GCP).
