There are 523 children registered in the Children’s Services Department of the Lviv City Council, including 188 orphans and 335 children deprived of parental care. On average, since 2012, more than 90 children are registered every year. Therefore, the city continues to work to ensure that every child has custody and care.
The priority is to place orphans and children deprived of parental care in family forms of education. Today: 90.4% of children are placed in family forms of education; 9.6% of children need placement in family forms of education.
Since the beginning of Russia’s armed aggression, the number of children who need placement in family forms of education has increased and continues to increase.
There are four forms of family arrangement for orphans and children deprived of parental care: adoption, guardianship/care, foster family, family-type orphanage. Out of 523 registered children, 103 children are up for adoption. There are 65 people registered as candidates for adoption. There are 311 adoptive families living in the Lviv community, in which 386 children are being raised; 316 families of guardians/custodians, in which 417 children are raised. There are also 14 foster families in which 23 children are raised (in 2007, 32 foster families were created); 11 family-type children’s homes, in which 74 children are brought up.
“We invite people who have the intention to adopt orphans and children deprived of parental care, not to wait for some convenient or ideal time, but to contact the children’s service at their place of residence,” says Volodymyr Frydrak, acting . head of the “Service for Children” department.
Prospective adopters usually want to adopt one child under the age of 6. However, in children’s services, older children from family groups (2 or more children) are usually registered for adoption – from 12 years old. Teenagers, children with disabilities, and children from large family groups are less likely to receive family education. Therefore, the City Hall emphasizes that all children need love and care.
“The safety of children and ensuring their rights are fundamental in our work. That is why we are constantly working on the development of family forms of education, but it is impossible to realize this without people who are ready to give love to an orphan child or a child deprived of parental care and let him into his heart and his family”, – emphasizes Volodymyr Frydrak.
As a reminder, this Friday, September 30, everyone is invited to the Adoption Day event. You can register using the link. The event will take place at the House of Mercy at the Orphan Care Center of the Lviv Archdiocese of the UGCC. Here you can get detailed information about each of the forms of family placement of children and how to prepare for accepting a child into the family.