“The state can allocate up to 100 thousand hryvnias per child in an orphanage, but 90% of these funds do not reach them.” – Daria Kasyanova

The Ngl.media investigationnoted that there are thousands of children in boarding schools in Ukraine, and only a minority of them are truly orphans. According to official statistics, as of 2024, there are more than 25,600 children in round-the-clock boarding schools, of whom only less than 5,000 have the status of orphans or children deprived of parental care. All the rest have their own parents and need social support rather than isolation.

However, this model is beneficial to the system itself, as funding for children’s institutions depends on the number of children in care. In 2023, the government spent almost UAH 11.4 billion on the maintenance of more than 700 boarding schools, which is more than UAH 37,000 per month per child. But these funds do not actually reach the children.

“Imagine, the state allocates up to UAH 100 thousand per month for one child in an orphanage, depending on age. This is not including the funds of philanthropists,” says Daria Kasyanova, Head of the Board of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network and Program Director of SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine.

According to Kasyanova, the lion’s share of this money is spent not on the needs of the child, but on the maintenance of the institutions themselves: “90% of these funds will never reach the child, but will be spent on heating and maintenance of institutions, salaries and other related expenses.”

The problem is also confirmed by the financial reports of individual institutions. For example, the budget of the Velykolyubinsk Training and Rehabilitation Center in 2024 amounted to UAH 14.24 million. Formally, this is about 24 thousand hryvnias for each child with a capacity of 50 children. But, according to available information, only 20 children have been in the institution over the past three months, meaning that the cost of their care has actually increased to more than UAH 49,000 per month per child.

The SOS Children’s Villages International Charitable Foundation conducted a study that showed another important aspect: the refusal to adopt is often associated with a lack of financial support for families.

If these budget funds, which are currently spent on boarding schools, are redirected to support families who are ready to take in children, the situation with orphanhood and institutional care could change radically.

The full text of the investigation is available on Ngl.media.