Photo: ppneed.com
Large families buy houses receive about two thousand hryvnyas (around 247 US dollars) a month for every child
While many Ukrainian families have difficulty supporting one child, a family in Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine) brings up 5-10 children in family type Children Homes they founded.
We have been told by the officials from the Service for Children of the State Administration that now there are 53 such families in this region.
“Governor Alexander Vilkul set a goal of creating conditions every year that will enable at least 400 orphans to live in families. We have bought four houses this year and next year we are going to buy ten more houses to create family-type homes”, said Nina Tutova, head of the Service.
In addition, last spring the governor signed a memorandum about starting in our region the national project called “The Development of Family forms for raising children.” It belongs to Rinat Akhmetov's Charity Foundation “The Development of Ukraine.” Thanks to www.sirotstvu.net website for the last half and a year more than two thousand orphans from Dnepropetrovsk found their families.
According to Nina Tutova a family-type children's home can be registered only on condition parents take care of more than five orphans. In addition, not only couples but also single people can found such Homes. “Every Ukrainian orphan receives some social benefits in the amount of two living minimum costs every month – today it is around 2,000 hryvnyas (around 247 US dollars). The foster parents also get some support in the amount of 35% from the child’s social benefits”, the official added.
In the most intellectual family there is a tradition of studies and seven pies for dinner
Family Honors: time to learn and play with the animals. Photo from the archives of M. Baranova
Five years ago when their two daughters grew up and had their own families the Baranov couple brought to their home the first adopted child.
“I once heard about a terminally ill single mother who had 11-year-old child. We welcomed her and her child into our family. Three years ago the woman died and the child was legally adopted. While we were taking Sergey, we were offered to take the girl Dasha and we agreed”, Maya Baranova told us. A little later four more children joined the family. Now Maya and Arkadiy Baranov are bringing up six children. Within a couple of years Maya and Arkadiy turned their problem teenagers into diligent students. “There is a tradition of studying in our family. Dasha received the Governor Scholarship for her excellent study. We think that she will finish school with honors. Sergey is a first class chess player. Actually all children have a desire to learn. And on the weekends we have a tradition – every member of our family bakes a cake or a pizza according to their own recipe, then we have dinner, where we taste all dishes and decide whose dish is the best”, Maya tells us .
Father Andrey has his own “ambulance”
Juniors – take your places! The Pinchuks have 10 children. These are the pictures from Pinchuk’s archive
A priest, Andrey Pinchuk took the first child into his family in 2004. “I worked as an educator in children’s house for 7 years and realized that it is very difficult to bring happiness into a boarding school system. There was one New Year’s party, when some charity givers came. The children got many gifts. And at the end of the holiday the girl was asked to tell how she liked it. Everyone was sure that she was going to say thank you, but she said: ‘But mother is not here.’ Children don’t need balloons or flashlights, they need parents”, Father Andrew is convinced; he is a Dean of St. Michael the Archangel church in the village of Volosskoe.
Now there are 7 adopted children, aged from 7 to 19, and 3 of their own biological children in this family. “We are oriented at the kids that don’t have chances to get a family. Children under three are cuties and that’s why someone always picks them up. We were oriented toward teens”, said Andrey Pinchuk.
Parishioners have taken the example of the priest – some families started to have more children, and others take foster children. Father Andrew has even organized a "psychological help" for large families. “It happens sometimes that the parents of the foster children simply don’t know how to deal with this or that situation, and they are ready to give up. My task is to help them with a piece of advice if necessary”, said the priest.
Parents “bought” 9 brothers and sisters for their own daughter
The children stand through thick and thin by each other, and they do everything together. Photo from the archives of S. Bogomol
For a long time the only child Bogdana asked her parents for a brother or a sister, and eventually she got what she wanted. Now she has 5 adopted brothers and 4 sisters. “My own daughter was a late child. I decided that I can’t give birth any more, but we gave a promise to the daughter to ‘buy’ a brother or a sister. Vova and Lyuda were the first children we welcomed into our family. Our daughter made friends with Vova – they were walking holding hands all the time. Then representatives of the regional service for children arrived. They inspected the house, saw good conditions for children and offered for adoption four siblings – three sisters and one brother. So there were seven children in our family. Well, then service asked us to think about taking one more boy. His parents were deprived of parents’ rights. My husband and I went to the place where we saw Sergey. He was standing and crying. I felt very sorry for him. And we picked him up”, said the mother of many children Svetlana Bogomol. Then she added that it was not the end of the story. Soon they took one child from Nikopol’s boarding school, and then they thought where there were 9 children there could be 10, and they took one more orphan.
The big family lives in their own house in Lozovatka village, it is in the Pyatikhatki region of Dnepropetrovsk oblast. The house is big. They have a large farm, which needs care, and a squad of children. Mother Svetlana runs the washing machine three times a day. Children (from 7 to 13 ) try to help their parents in everything. They have been calling them mom and dad since the first day in the family.
“Kristina, who is 12 years old, cooks a traditional Ukrainian soup called borsch and helps me in the kitchen. We try to do everything together: peel potatoes, make dumplings and bake pies. Of course we have women’s work and men’s work. For example, if we need to take the cow to graze the eldest children or the boys do this. And the girls take care of rabbits”, said Svetlana.
In the beginning the relatives of Svetlana and Vladimir Bogomolov didn’t understand how they dared to do this, but now they support the decision, and Vladimir’s sister wants to take five children into her family.