The “WAY HOME” project

The Ukrainian Child Rights Network in partnership with the international humanitarian organization Save the Children in Ukraine is implementing the project “A Way Home” aimed at finding and returning children displaced to the Russian Federation or to the non-government controlled areas of Ukraine, as well as reuniting families whose children are without parents in the occupation.

Objective:

Within the framework of this project, UMDP will search for children displaced in the Russian Federation or non-government controlled areas of Ukraine, help them return to the territory of free Ukraine, and support the families of these children by preparing families for reunification and providing follow-up support to reunited families.

Project objectives:

– to find and return home as many Ukrainian children displaced to the Russian Federation or to the non-government controlled territories of Ukraine as possible, as well as to bring to the territory of free Ukraine children who are under occupation without parents;

– create an effective and as safe as possible algorithm for returning/removing children;

– Prepare parents/responsible adults for reunification with children, and further support reunified families through the work of social workers, social work specialists, case managers, and psychologists.

– develop and implement the communication campaign “It’s not scary to bring a child home”;

– Ensure proper implementation of SCI’s Child and Adult Protection Policy (CSG, PSEA, anti-harassment).

Project duration:

May 15, 2023 – May 30, 2025.

Territory of implementation:

Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, with the number of regions to be expanded if necessary.

During the second part of Phase I of the project, 55 children were returned to Ukraine.

Results of Phase I of the project from May 15 to November 15, 2023:

Within the framework of the “WAY HOME” project, from May 15 to November 15, 2023 , 93 children were requested to return.

As of 11/14/2023 , 45 children (23 boys and 22 girls) were returned.

6 children were returned from the territory of the Russian Federation,

26 children were returned from TOT of Kherson region, 8 children – from TOT of Luhansk region, 5 children – from TOT of Donetsk region,

26 children have biological parents,

19 children are orphans/deprived of parental care.

All children were returned to their legal representatives.

What categories of children are returned by the URMP?

• children in the occupied territories/Russia whose parents were killed or captured during attempts to evacuate.
• Children who were in institutions at the beginning of the full-scale war and were sent to Crimea and other territories occupied in 2014, and then – some of them – to the territory of the Russian Federation;
• orphans or half-orphans who were students of vocational schools at the beginning of the full-scale war in cities that were quickly occupied after February 24, 2022;
• children who were sent to their relatives for safety reasons at the beginning of the full-scale war;
• a special category of children whose parents are military personnel or work in government agencies.

What problems does the UMDP team face when returning deported and illegally displaced children home?

In the process of returning:

• TIME is perhaps Russia’s most terrible weapon.
  Every new day brings us further away from the possibility of returning the child – the Russians are changing the identity of Ukrainian children.
• Interrogations and psychological abuse at the border by Russian special services.
• The Russian side always asks for additional documents for parents or legal representatives who are coming to pick up the child, which means a long distance and time to provide these documents.
• Changes in the return route due to changes in the child’s place of residence and other circumstances.

After returning to Ukraine:

• Children and their parents have no place to live because their homes are either on the TOT or destroyed;
• There are children who have nowhere to return to: their relatives are either dead or in other occupied territories.
  The state and communities need to ensure that these children find new families and provide them with long-term psychosocial support.
• Rehabilitation and psychological assistance are the primary measures in terms of long-term support for returned children and their families;
• While the children were under occupation or in Russia, they missed a lot of lessons, so they need help with their studies – tutors, admission to educational institutions, etc.

IMPORTANT! Post-return support is as important as the return itself , but due to the underdeveloped social services system, the country is unable to provide it in full, so UMPD independently provides this long-term support to the children it returns.

The work of the UMDP after the return:

• work of a psychologist and case manager with a child and his or her family;
• needs assessment and case management are carried out;
• organizing and distributing humanitarian aid;
• support during the restoration and preparation of documents, registration of benefits and payments;
• redirection if necessary;

What other services do families and children need after returning?

• social adaptation service;
• physical and psychological rehabilitation: temporary housing (3-6 months), where specialists work with families to provide rehabilitation activities, the opportunity to work through the trauma of displacement, adaptation to a new environment and living conditions;
• cash security (cash) until IDPs receive payments for the purchase of food and basic necessities;
• purchase of laptops and tablets for education (school equipment);
• medical examination and treatment, if necessary.

Five leading Ukrainian media outlets became media partners of the “Bringing a Child Home is Not Scary” campaign, publishing 10 stories of child reunification/family reunification on their websites:

“UP.Life:

“That’s it, your daughter is gone.”
How a 24-year-old Ukrainian woman did not believe these words, searched for and returned her little daughter from the occupation

“We were falling on the concrete floor head and back”: the story of survival and rescue of a 17-year-old half-orphan from Mariupol

Illegally taken by her own aunt: the story of a military daughter who was returned from Russia

NV:

“I was always afraid that my daughter would be taken away from me.”
How a mother managed to take her baby out of the uncontrolled territory of Ukraine

“I was helping my grandmother so she wouldn’t die.”
The story of 12-year-old Sashko, who almost died in the occupation

Hromadske Radio website:

“It’s my own blood”: how a Dnipro woman crossed several European countries to bring her father’s brother back from the occupation

“Escape plan from Russia”: the story of 16-year-old Valeria, whom her father would not let go to her mother in Ukraine

“Dzerkalo Tyzhnia:

OUTSIDE THE TERRITORY OF UNFREEDOM.
THE STORY OF ONE RETURN

“SOMETIMES IT SEEMED ALMOST UNREALISTIC THAT IT WOULD ALL END SUCCESSFULLY.”
THE STORY OF 37 CHILDREN FROM KHARKIV REGION RETURNING FROM RUSSIA

“Left Bank”:

“Russian soldiers burst in and took my grandmother to the basement,” 12-year-old Viktor about how he survived a year and a half of separation from his mother

Project developments:

• The Ministry of Reintegration, together with the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, SOS Children’s Villages, Media Initiative for Human Rights, child rights expert Lyudmyla Volynets and Save the Children in Ukraine, developed a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Approval of the Procedure for Interaction of Local and Central Executive Authorities, Local Self-Government Bodies, the National Information Bureau, Non-Governmental Organizations on the Return of Deported/Forcibly Displaced Children, Orphans, Children Deprived of Parental Care during and after the
• UMDPL together with Save the Children in Ukraine developed “Algorithm for tracing and reunification of deported or forcibly displaced children with their families or legal representatives”.

Results of the second part of Phase I of the project from February 1 to May 30, 2024:

As part of the communication campaign “It’s not scary to bring your child home”, we engage regional military administrations to inform residents of their communities about what people whose children have been abducted by Russians should do to bring them home.

The whole of Ukraine is watching the United News telethon to see the social video we produced so that as many people as possible can learn about the possibility of bringing their children home.

We dedicated a radio project “The Way Home: How to bring a child back from deportation”.

During this period of the project, we were able to record 8 more stories of return firsthand: not all people who have returned their children are ready to talk publicly about what happened to them. After all, the experience is too painful and traumatic. In addition, for security reasons, not all interviews will be published.

“Left Bank”:

“It seemed that I would not see my daughters for a very long time. But a miracle finally happened.”

“Dzerkalo Tyzhnia:

“GRANDMA, LOOK, A UKRAINIAN FLAG!” THE STORY OF ONE RETURN

Hromadske Radio website:

“My dad rehearsed the role of a ‘valenka’ in front of a mirror to get his granddaughter out of the occupation.”

“Pro-Russian villagers mocked my schoolgirl sister because of her position”

UP. Life.

If a child has not been to Russia, has he or she suffered enough?”: why it is so difficult to return children from the occupation

Therefore, the task of specialists is to protect the rights of each returned child, to ensure their needs and best interests. In particular, to inform all adults how to communicate ethically with such children, how to tell the child’s story without causing retraumatization.

Implementation of the “WAY HOME” project helped the UMDPL, together with experts from the Ombudsman’s Office of Ukraine and partner NGOs, to develop recommendations “Ethics of interaction with children affected by deportation and/or forced displacement”.

The overall results of the project in a short infographic:

Phase II of the project from June 1, 2024 to May 30, 2025:

We’ll share our results here later…

“The Ukrainian Child Rights Network is implementing the Way Home project in partnership with Save the Children in Ukraine, aimed at finding and returning home children forcibly displaced in Russia or the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. It includes

Our partners are: Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine, EDUKIDS Charitable Foundation, Media Initiative for Human Rights.

Every person who cares can help us in the process of returning children home, which requires and will continue to require considerable resources. Please click the SUPPORT US button and make your contribution.