It is difficult for us to imagine having to abandon your child because of poverty. In Ukraine, this is a major reason for the orphan crisis.
Over the past 14 years many social problems have contributed to the massive rise in orphans.
These problems include:
  • Unemployment. Many of the factories and industries that employed people during Soviet times have been closed, leaving people without any means of earning money. Although some people have become very wealthy, most are unemployed. The situation is particularly bad for women, who have a much higher unemployment rate.
  • Poverty. With unemployment and the absense of social programs funded by the government comes poverty. Many people struggle to find enough money to buy food, clothing and medicine for their children.
  • Collapse of Social Programs. The old socialist daycare programs are long gone, and there is no well-establised private industry to meet this need. Therefore, when a woman is able to get a job, especially if she is single and without family, she has no way to secure child care.
  • Alcoholism and drug abuse. As these problems have grown, so have rates of alcohol and drug abuse. Unfortunately, many children are either abandoned in the hospitals by these mothers or are taken by the state when the mother fails to provide adequately for the child.
  • Prostitution. This is a major problem in Ukraine. Because of the desperate economic situation many women find themselves in, especially those who are young and single, many are forced to turn to prostitution. Often, women are taken over international borders and forced to work as prostitutes in other countries. Some are tricked, told that they will work as waitresses or maids in other places. When these women become pregnant, some choose to give birth to the baby and give them up to the orphanage, hoping they will eventually be adopted.
  • Poor medical care leading to early death. Some children become full orphans (both parents are dead) because of a lack of access to healthcare and the effects of poverty on their parents.
  • Other social problems. As in our own society, other social problems lead to children living in orphanages. These include abuse and neglect. Sometimes, children are taken by the Ukrainian state in order to provide them with a safe environment.
Around the age of 16, orphans must leave the orphanage. There is no further funding for them to remain in the orphanage and because of overcrowding, it is not possible for them to stay longer in most cases. Sometimes, this happens even younger - children as young as 14 have had to leave our older kids' orphanage, the Internat. They are without the basic skills to protect themselves and provide for themselves.

Orphans are given the option to attend some sort of further education according to Ukrainian law. They can also live in a government-run dormitory if space is available, and as long as they study - usually one to two years. The conditions in these dorms are far worse than in the orphanage - they are usually violent, dangerous and worse, these orphans spend a great deal of time alone and without encouragement and love.

When an orphan leaves the orphanage, they must secure housing, food, warm clothes and shoes and other basics for living if they are not able to go on to further education, or after that education is done. Internat directors are charged with helping these students as they leave the orphanage, but in a country with few social programs to help and where jobs are very scarce, this is a monumental, daunting task.
Without intervention programs, the statistics are extremely sad:
  • 60-70% of boys leaving the orphanage will become involved in crime for survival.
  • 60-70% of girls leaving the orphanage will become involved in prostitution for survival.
  • About 1 in 6 of these children will commit suicide before their mid-20's because of hopelessness