UKRAINE CHILD RESCUE
In Partnership With Ezra International
Rescuing and Restoring Children in Kiev, Ukraine
UKRAINE CHILD RESCUE
In Partnership With Ezra International
Rescuing and Restoring Children in Kiev, Ukraine
In Partnership with Ezra International
We are a Christian non-profit rescuing and restoring abused and neglected, or abandoned, children in Kiev, Ukraine.
Our Work
In Ukraine drug and alcohol abuse is rampant, with the resulting abuse and neglect of children. Social services are inadequate. In 1998 Ezra began a street feeding program and today we have a Child Rescue Mobile Unit. Our Unit has a staff of Christian, Ukrainian professionals, is the only one of its kind in Ukraine and is backed by the Police. Also, Ukraine Social Services refers many of its cases to our Unit. We believe in working collectively in the restoration of children and families and have partnerships we work closely in tandem with.
Programs
Child Rescue Mobile Unit
In 2011, we began our Mobile Unit and are the only one of its kind in Ukraine. The Unit is a professional intervention working in impoverished neighborhoods in 6 of the 10 districts of Kiev. We have Police backing and Social Services refer cases to us. Our staff includes social workers, child psychologist and Vera, who heads up the Unit, has a law degree which is invaluable in advocating for children in the courts.
The Unit responds 24/7 to calls on their “hot line” reporting child abuse and neglect. These calls come from such sources as relatives or neighbors. One of our drivers always accompanies the Unit staff to the home for safety. Often conditions are shocking. If children are in immediate danger, Police will be called to remove them. Ultimately, it is best if a family unit can be restored. However, there are cases where parents refuse to go to drug/alcohol rehabilitation or to make their places inhabitable and to take proper care of their children. In such cases, the children are removed and eventually the parents legally lose their parental rights. In other cases, children are removed for a period of time – our Unit tries to place children in Christian living situations – and when the parents have shown they have changed, the children can be returned home, with regular home visits from our social workers.
We also provide humanitarian aid in the form of medication and basic food packages to very poor families. The Unit has a case load of around 300 families at any one time. Many of these very vulnerable children would have had no protection or help without our Unit.
Partnerships
“Life at 100%” Rehabilitation House
Lena, our Ezra Child Rescue Mobile Unit psychologist, started this home and we partner with her. The home is a two hour drive from Kiev.
What is unique is that it is for mothers who are drug or/and alcohol addicted and they are able to have their younger children live there with them, keeping the family unit together. It is like a home for a very large family and there are usually around 9 mothers and 15 children living there. The mothers, while going through rehabilitation, work in the house or do work in the fields. There is a nearby school. The children have suffered a lot in their young lives and thrive while living at the home. The mothers also learn parenting skills.
“Achieve” After School Program
Ezra partners with an after school program created for children from crisis families our Child Rescue Mobile Unit works with. It is open 5 days a week, 3 to 9pm. About 30 children come to this welcoming, happy, family-like program. It is named “Achieve” because the children are shown a different path to that of their parents – that they have abilities and potential, to do their best at school, to dream, and to use their time productively. They are loved and encouraged as they take part in classes such as dance, music, English, singing, and crafts. Also, they put on concerts for their parents, take part in dance competitions, go on picnics and in the summer go to camp.
Summer camps are very important for children in crisis families to get a break from their family situations and to enjoy being children and having their needs met.
Helping Children in the War Zone
This is a new work we are partnering with. Though we never hear about it in the news now, fighting has continued unabated in the war zone in eastern Ukraine. Nearly every night there is shelling and shooting by snipers who are Russian-backed rebels. How traumatizing this is for children! There has been no help available for children in dealing with what they are experiencing. Natasha, who used to be a psychologist in our Child Rescue Mobile Unit, has been doing trips to the area taking with her specialists in art therapy and in dealing with trauma. They have been training school teachers in three schools on how to help these children. Each trip there they take as much humanitarian aid as they can carry. Natasha’s goal is to set up an after school program like “Achieve.”
Father’s House
Father’s House is a Christian children’s home an hour out of Kiev. Ezra has been involved with Father’s House from when it was being built in 2002. Bruce Elliott, who heads up Ezra’s Children’s Work, is Chairman of its Board. The children living there have been abused, orphaned or abandoned and we see first-hand the wonderful changes in the children as they are loved and nurtured at Father’s House.
Father’s House is home to approximately 75 children. There is a large building behind the original house that is made into apartments and the children live in family groups of about 10 children under the care of a “Mom and Dad.” Father’s House now has its own school, housed in the original blue house.
Good news is that each year several children are being adopted either by families internationally or in Ukraine.
Father’s House
Video – Father’s House, Sasha Stermer story
Video – Father’s House Greenhouse Project
Kolya, the boy starring in the video, wrote it
News
News updates from Ukraine Child Rescue.
HOMESICK FOR THEIR BELOVED UKRAINE
Hi everyone - I thought you would enjoy this video of 40 of the Father's House children having a carefree, fun time at a 5-day camp put on by a group called Legacy. The link is below this update. Adults and kids are feeling so homesick for their beloved Ukraine. But...
FATHER’S HOUSE REFUGEES
Hi everyone this video was put together by a young man who is a graduate of Father's House and currently living there helping refugees. I'm sorry it is in Ukrainian but the pictures alone tell the story. At the end of the first part with all the explosions is the...
FATHER’S HOUSE, FREIBURG, GERMANY
Another group housing alternative was being pursued but that too reached a dead end. So now it appears the most viable option is to get a series of houses or apartments and break into small groups. Father's House already has within its' family groups' with a mom and...
CHILD RESCUE MOBILE UNIT STILL WORKING – HEROS!
When war broke out, one of our social workers, Galya, took her daughter to relatives in France and immediately returned to Kiev to assist children and families. Denis, who worked as a driver for the Mobile Unit, has been driving humanitarian aid brought to the...
FATHER’S HOUSE UPDATE
The group photo below is of Roma leading their first church service together since they evacuated to Germany. Adults and children are now gathering once a week from the 4 refugee camps to hold church. Here is a photo of one of the refugee camps housing Father’s House...
EVACUATION OF FATHER’S HOUSE CHILDREN
We have been shocked, heartbroken, and praying for our beloved friends and co-laborers in Ukraine, and for the country itself as it valiantly fights. Amongst the horror, there are incredible stories of courage and of compassion. Here is an excerpt by Roma of...
“ACHIEVE” AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM – YOUNG ARTISTS!
Art therapy is one of the programs offered to the children, who nearly all live in crisis families. They love it and this week were busy painting bright colored pictures of fall with a teacher who has a wonderful heart for children.
FATHER’S HOUSE CHRISTMAS PLAY
Every year Father’s House children prepare a Christmas play they perform multiple times to groups. This year the play was called “Christmas Story in Bethlehem”. The storyline gave the message that when we are self-involved and too proud to let people into our lives...
A FATHER TO ORPHANED UKRAINIAN CHILDREN
An origin story of a Ukrainian man who gave up his career as a doctor to become a father to many orphaned and vulnerable children in Ukraine.
Donate
Ezra International is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
Donations and contributions are tax deductible as allowed by law. Uniform Disclosure Statement
Uniquely, 100% of our proceeds go to the Ukraine children’s work without any money taken out for overhead costs.
Ways you can help
- Help send a child from a crisis family to summer camp for two weeks (total cost around $150 per child including transportation)
- Art materials, humanitarian supplies and travel costs for trips into the War Zone to work with traumatized children ($250 per trip)
- Help sponsor a child at Father’s House for $30/month – you will be given the name of a child and opportunities to write to them
- “General” donation to our programs. There is no limit to the number of children in dire need, and we want to be able to help more children.