Over 13,000 children have lost parental care since start of war

Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, more than 13,000 children have acquired the status of orphan or child deprived of parental care.

On April 6, Oksana Zholnovych, the Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, announced this on the air of the all-Ukrainian telethon.

"Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, more than 13 thousand children have acquired the status of an orphan child or a child deprived of parental care.

These are children who have been orphaned in various ways or, for example, their parents are in captivity or a Russian prison," the official said.

As Zholnovych noted, at least 4,000 children are left without parental care in Ukraine every year.

Usually, such children end up in orphanages or shelters before the guardianship authority determines their legal status. But instead of staying in special institutions, a possible alternative is staying with relatives (grandparents, aunts, etc.).

According to the minister, the state previously did not provide family members with child support payments during the period of determining this status, which can take up to six months. Now, that will change.

"Recently, the government decided to assist children who are temporarily deprived of parental care," the minister added.

We will remind that in Ukraine, the government introduced a new temporary aid program, "The Child Is Not Alone," for children left without parental care, in the amount of 2.5 to 3.5 times the subsistence minimum.

The grounds may be cases where the parents or one of the parents:

• died (and the other parent does not fulfill their duties);
• is in temporary occupation or surrounded areas;
• is wanted as a missing person under special circumstances or recognized as such;
• is in captivity of the aggressor state;
• is deprived of liberty (detention, hostage-taking) by the aggressor state.

The payment can also be received by a representative of a foster family or a family-type orphanage where the child is temporarily staying.

In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers made some changes to the rules for adopting orphans and children deprived of parental care, which now allows minors to wait less time for their new families.

The government also increased the amount of state social assistance to the children of fallen volunteer soldiers.

As Rubryka wrote, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, almost 1,806 children have been injured, including 537 minors who have died. More than 1,269 children have received injuries of various degrees of severity.