Ruslan Shostak Charity Foundation created comfortable conditions for Ukrainian orphans in Turkey

02.10.2024

Andriy Bobliakh, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine

In August, I joined a monitoring group that visited Turkey to check the conditions of children evacuated from Ukraine. Knowing about the situation is one thing, but seeing everything firsthand is completely different. After the start of the full-scale invasion, I heard that many children had been evacuated to Turkey and were provided with comfortable conditions there. When the Ministry of Social Policy offered to join the monitoring mission, I immediately agreed.

Our delegation included representatives of various bodies: Deputy Minister of Social Policy Iryna Postolovska, Head of the National Social Service Vasyl Lutsyk, and Head of the Monitoring Department Inna Honcharuk. Our goal was to assess how the children, who have been away from their homeland for over two years, are accommodated.

The children live in a hotel complex near Kemer — a cozy cottage area. They stay in buildings, usually two or three per room. The accommodations are clean, and some details remind them of home. The children, of course, miss home, but they have everything they need to feel safe. Each of them received a tablet from the Ruslan Shostak Foundation, equipped with educational and entertainment programs.

An important part of their lives is nutrition. The facility has a Ukrainian chef, so the food is mostly Ukrainian. Every three months, the children can choose new clothes, and recently they visited a brand store where they had the opportunity to try on new items. Their emotions during this process were hard to overestimate — many bought not only clothes but also toys. And the sea, which they can visit daily, adds to their mood.

The educational process for the children is also organized at a high level. They moved from Ukrainian institutions with their caregivers, who provide a Ukrainian-speaking environment. They study remotely according to the Ukrainian curriculum, and there is a large library with Ukrainian books on the premises.

As for medical care, there were some difficulties at first due to the language barrier. But now the children can communicate with a Russian-speaking doctor, which has greatly improved the situation. All the children have undergone medical examinations, and one girl even received a heart surgery that had been canceled in Ukraine due to the war.

The Ministry of Social Policy is actively working on the return of children to Ukraine, which is indeed an important task. The priority must be the safety of the children. Our goal is to return them not to orphanages but to caring families. Families are crucial, but the question remains: in which regions? After all, there are no safe places in Ukraine.

Turkey offered to take in children with disabilities, promising additional care, but how will this affect family ties? Over the past year, 40 children from Turkey have already been adopted by Ukrainians and returned to their homeland. Socialization is extremely important for these children’s future.