July 2023 Update

 

Friends, family, kind strangers – we are at 517 days of full-scale war in Ukraine. While we are all fatigued, the evil continues – therefore, so must the overwhelming good.  ** please do not share anything from this letter publicly without my permission.

Much has happened since my last letter. We hosted a summer camp with about 45 children, some of the children internally displaced, having fled from some of the most dangerous areas of Ukraine. It was a week full of fun, play, laughter, and connection – I’ll never take the opportunity for children to simply be children for granted again. War is such a thief.

Here we continue to face many battles. While the actual war continues, with no end in sight. We also chose our battles within the broken Ukrainian Orphan Care System. The work of advocacy is much like a game, there is give and take, there is strategy, there are wins and losses.

We have been advocating fervently for several of the children living at the orphanage. We advocate for medical intervention and accountability in their status process – the process that determines if a child is available for adoption or if the family still has rights. We rarely see reunification initiatives, yet too many of the children do not have adoption status. We call this place “limbo”, the children are not on any path toward family placement, they are stuck living in the institution. They are losing pivotal years of development, learning, and attachment. The system is also a thief.

This is M. She is 4 years old. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen me talk about her a lot.

I first met M in March of last year, shortly after her 3rd birthday. She was in the room for children with special needs and had been since she was about 6 months old. Meaning this child truly does not know life outside of the institution. I felt myself gravitate toward her almost immediately. She wasn’t the type of child to run up and demand attention, she wouldn’t even ask for it. She kept to herself, struggled when interacting with the other children, and was not favored or even treated kindly by the caregivers. M represented the outcast of society. An orphan, disabled, unsocial, a problem … the categories placed on her. She is exactly why I chose to dedicate my life to serving these children and advocating for better. Because she is actually a daughter, tender-hearted, a joy, a gift, and deserves to be shown and told every single day. She is one of the children we have been advocating for medical intervention for. In April of this year, M was moved from the group she has known for most of her life and was forced to survive in a new environment, with new caregivers, surrounded by new children. This change displays the complete lack of stability in a large institution and took a large toll on sweet M. Her health almost immediately began to decline.

Back in March 2022 when I first met little M.

Feeling helpless, we witness as she lost weight, struggled to sleep, and pursued self-soothing ticks that often led to self-harm. It is one of the most heart-breaking circumstances I’ve ever witnessed and I am haunted by the image of her frail body. No one at the orphanage was raising an alarm, the caregivers claiming she is “fine” and “calm”. When in reality she was too exhausted by her lack of nutrition and sleep that she simply didn’t have it in her to play or cause any type of commotion.  After several attempts at drawing attention to her deteriorating health, bringing in additional nutritional drinks, and shifting my full attention to her during my visits, we finally got permission to take her for some medical testing. This testing led to a visit and a week-long stay at the local children’s hospital. I wish I could say that this stay had dramatic effects on M’s health – today she is back in the orphanage and I fear she is back in the same position as before.  Along with other Shade for Children volunteers, we were able to serve as full-time companions for M during her stay at the hospital. This isn’t the norm but became needed from a PR perspective for the orphanage when a mother at the hospital with her own child raised concern for M’s wellbeing and questioned the care provided by the orphanage. It was a gift to spend such extended time with M, finally providing the one-on-one care she so desperately needs. A week, while something, doesn’t change the fact that the orphanage is her home and she had to go back to the exact same circumstances she was so struggling in before. I wish I could say I have a lot of hope for improvement, but as her situation stands, I just don't know what will happen.

We continue to pray for softened hearts, compassionate care, and greater intervention. We continue to advocate for more medical care. We would love to see her seen by a neurologist and a nutritionist. Conversations are pending on whether we will get permission for that. Thank you to those who gave funds so we could cover the costs of her medical care thus far – without our ability to pay for it, M likely wouldn’t have received the medical care she has.  This situation is just one of the thousands… and is exactly why we are pursuing the building and operation of a small group home for children within the Ukrainian orphan care system. In case you missed my last letter, here is a little recap of our plans and a progress update…

One day this property will provide a home and safety for some of the most vulnerable children.

Ukraine approved the small group home model of alternative housing for orphans back in 2018, well before the war began. This model aims to reduce and eventually eliminate the number of children residing in large institutions, providing them with more suitable options such as foster care, adoption, and small group homes. Our small group home will be limited to accommodating 10 children (or 8 if they have special needs). Our primary goals include creating an environment that closely resembles a real home and family, providing not only care but great love.  Simultaneously, we will work diligently to prepare the children for family placement, whether that is reunification with their family, adoption, or foster care – long-term solutions. We will be able to provide care for these children immediately, without having to jump through the hoops of system bureaucracy. Our property is currently in the re-zoning process, so we are oh so not patiently waiting.

It is a good plan. It is an improvement from the current solution. But I also want to communicate that none of us wanted or envisioned us creating a home like this. We have and will continue to advocate for children being placed in families above all other solutions, but the reality is that Ukraine simply isn’t ready to move to 100% family-based care. There are thousands of children living in large institutions all around Ukraine, or abroad if evacuated from occupied or dangerous areas. The system is not in a position to place these children in foster families or have them all placed through reunification or adoption. We need a stepping stone. We need small group homes to serve as that step from large institutions to a family.  I have so much hope for the future of Ukraine’s orphan care system, but goodness, we have a long way to go. We need more in-depth training for foster families, we need reunification initiatives, and we need greater accountability in the process of granting a child adoption status… all will take time and money. Ukraine has had to allot so much of its social spending to the war efforts, meaning the moves toward change will heavily rely on foundations, NGOs, non-profits, churches, humanitarian aid, and the tenacity of Ukrainians we know so well.

In November and December 2023, I will be traveling throughout the US to fundraise for this home! I am thankful for the opportunity to share our hearts and passion with you all in person. I will be based out of North Georgia during this trip but will be making my way to MANY States across the country. If you have a church, small group, organization, foundation, or community you believe may want to come around this project, I would LOVE to discuss making a stop to share with you in person! Please reply to this email if you’d like to extend an invitation to visit. I will extend my trip into January if enough interest comes to light. I so look forward to connecting with many of you!  For now, I will keep updates on this project in the newsletter, waiting to do a formal announcement on social media until our re-zoning is approved. There will be many avenues available to you to support our future home for children (name pending) – including an option on my page with The Cause where you have supported me from the beginning. If you’d like to go ahead and start supporting, simply reply to this email and I’ll get you set up. Thank you, thank you, thank you – you all are just as much a part of bringing this goodness to the children of Ukraine, don’t forget that!

with love, Lina