“I don’t like it here. It’s cold here” – a study was presented, where the thoughts and dreams of 500 children from institutionalized facilities were shared

On October 15, a presentation of the study “Behind Closed Doors: Dreams of Children in Institutionalized Care” was presented to amplify the voices of children in institutionalized care, including children with disabilities and high support needs. The study was conducted in partnership with the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, the European Disability Forum, the Social Synergy NGO, the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation, the Children and Youth Office “DiYMO” at the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, and the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

“We hope that with this research we have made a small contribution to building a fully participatory democracy in Ukraine and to making the voices of the most excluded children heard. And now it’s our responsibility to start acting,” said Georgette Mulheir, consultant at the European Forum on Disability, at the presentation.

The research was conducted by psychologists or specialists with social education. They conducted in-depth interviews with 500 children and young people living in residential facilities and organized 6 focus groups to capture their opinions.

As a result, 89% of the children and young people surveyed expressed a desire to do things and move around more independently, without restrictions. And 88% would like to study more and learn something new.

“We need to start by simply recognizing the potential of children. Children with disabilities, children without disabilities, children with high support needs – they can do a lot. They have demonstrated the ability and interest in development,” said Ksenia Karagyaur, Senior Advocacy Advisor for Children’s Rights at Save the Children. “It is very important at the state level to provide such mechanisms for the participation of children and youth so that we can hear the views of any children. All children. And there are mechanisms for this, in fact.”

Liubov Solodukhina , a child rights expert at the Social Synergy NGO, called the study the most productive in her entire practice of working in the social sector.

“Talking to one child, who, among other things, cannot speak, but communicating with them for, say, an hour, you learn much more than in long reports… By highlighting their views, we hope to foster a continuous collaboration that ensures that children’s opinions are an integral part of future reforms,” said Liubov.

Iryna Polyanska, a leading researcher and psychologist at the Children’s Voices Charitable Foundation, shared quotes from children’s dreams. Among their phrases were basic needs about leisure, living conditions, living in a family with parents, brothers and sisters…

Slide from the presentation of the study “Behind Closed Doors: Dreams of children in boarding schools”.

These theses were supplemented by representatives of the DIYMO Office for Children and Youth, who also have experience in institutionalized care.

The second panel of the event featured government officials. The discussion focused on the integration of children’s views into the reform agenda.

“Our task is to move together, because it is impossible to close all institutions at once. And the deinstitutionalization reform is not about boarding schools, it is about a specific child and his or her capabilities, and about a specific family that we have to create and support. Because it’s also no secret that today foster families and family-type orphanages are often unable to cope with all the challenges that the war has brought. And we lose them, they burn out or have some other difficulties. So this is a complex of everything, where children’s voices are the key to highlighting the aspirations to change the system. That’s why we listen to everything that children say, both in these studies and by young people themselves,” said Iryna Tuliakova, Head of the Coordination Center for the Development of Family Education and Child Care.

Other speakers at the event included: People’s Deputy of Ukraine of the IX convocation Olena Khomenko, Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Children Petro Dobromilskyi, Acting Director General of the Directorate of Preschool and Inclusive Education of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine Alevtina Lototska, Deputy Head of the Service for Children of the Volyn Regional Military Administration Nelia Fomina.

“The research presented today emphasizes the urgent need to reform the systems of care and support for children,” said Lyudmyla Strashna, Director of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, “The voices of children from boarding schools are rarely heard, especially children with disabilities. Adults usually do not take into account their opinions, which leads to decisions made solely on the basis of adults’ perceptions of the “best interests of the child”. The lack of mechanisms for the proper integration of children’s views into decision-making processes exacerbates this problem.”

Based on the study, the experts prepared recommendations for the authorized state authorities:

• continue the deinstitutionalization (De-I) reform in Ukraine;
• to fully promote the placement of children exclusively in family-based care;
• Encourage communities and local governments to create non-institutional services for children and families, support foster families, leisure and recreational services for children and parents Take into account the individual needs of children still in institutions, provide them with the opportunity to choose their own clothes, have their own things in the room, their own space, etc;
• support individual mentoring of children in institutions and after they leave them;
• create a system for selecting and training volunteer organizations to regularly support and organize children’s leisure activities

The full text of the study is available here:

Project. “Behind Closed Doors: Dreams of Children in institutional care” was implemented by the Ukrainian Child Rights Network in partnership with the international humanitarian organization Save the Children in Ukraine, Charitable organization “Charitable Foundation “Voices of Children”, NGO “Social Synergy” and European Disability Forum – is an internationally recognized expert in the field of protection of the rights of people with disabilities. It was implemented since December 2023 and covered institutional facilities in five regions of Ukraine.