Toward Reforming Child Welfare in Ukraine

The recent child welfare initiatives of the Ukrainian government focus on expanding family-based care through intra-country adoption, foster care, and family-type homes and reducing the role of state-run institutions to accommodate over 100,000 children currently residing in orphanages, boarding schools, and shelters. This study addresses current child welfare policies in Ukraine through evaluating training seminars organized by Holt International through Family For Children Program. Holt International designed and implemented a training curriculum for Ukrainian officials and child welfare professionals, in collaboration with several Oregon-based public and non-profit organizations. The significance of this curriculum was an introduction and replication of the Oregon-based preventive family support programs in Ukraine. This work contributes to a deeper and wider understanding of challenges that Ukraine has been experiencing while implementing the US child welfare models. Other international non-profit organizations and training programs working in the countries of the former Soviet Union may benefit from the results of this study.