The results of monitoring the living conditions of children returning from boarding schools will be presented in Poltava

On October 2, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, UNICEF and the Ukrainian Child Rights Network will present the first results of a regional monitoring of the situation of children returning from boarding schools to their families due to a pandemic. The monitoring covered 500 families in Poltava region within the framework of the pilot project “Assessment and response to challenges to child protection during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

What difficulties did families have after their children returned home, how many children will not return to boarding schools and how to prevent more children from being separated from their families?

• Maryna Lazebna, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine;
• Laura Bill, Deputy Head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine;
• Daria Kasyanova, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Network for the Rights of the Child;
• Oleg Sinegubov, head of the Poltava Regional State Administration.

The event will take place on October 2 at 10:00 in the premises of Poltava Regional State Administration (address: 45 Sobornosti Street). Accreditation of journalists by phone +38 (066) 4331729 (Julia, Chief Specialist of the Media Relations Department of the Information Policy Department of the Department) or in a letter to ua.info.poltava.zmi@gmail.com (specify the name of the media, name and surname) journalist / operator, as well as contact information).

The online broadcast of the round table will take place on the Facebook pages of the Ukrainian Network for the Rights of the Child (@ukrainianchildrightsnetwork), UNICEF (@UNICEFUkraine) and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine (@MLSP.gov.ua) on Facebook.

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Due to the coronavirus pandemic, 42,000 children, including children with disabilities, returned to their families from boarding schools. The project “Assessment and response to challenges to child protection during the COVID-19 pandemic” is being implemented in 5 regions of Ukraine: Poltava, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Volyn and Dnipropetrovsk. The purpose of the project is to monitor the conditions of families and identify the causes of institutionalization. The project is implemented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) together with the Ukrainian Network for the Rights of the Child and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine.

The practices of reintegration of children into families developed during the project are planned to be extended to the whole of Ukraine. One of the results will be the preparation of recommendations for 5 regional plans for the reform of boarding schools and the development of amendments to regulations relating to deinstitutionalization reform.