How do you select the children for sponsorship?

When we open a project area, we do so near villages and communities where there is great need. After a new target community is identified «CHILDREN IN UKRAINE» researches and selects local partners in this chosen community to implement our programs. We build our own team in each community and join forces with local child experts, such as child protective services, local departments of education, children’s private charities.

Years of experience have taught us that local child experts and community leaders know best about the situation in their community.  We work with community leaders, such as elected deputies of the local council. We also involve parents/guardians in the enrolment process. Per the laws of Ukraine parents/guardians must give consent to their child(ren) participating in our programs.  We work with children’s organizations of all levels (such as alliances of mothers of children with various types of disabilities, association of widows), orphanages, boarding schools, children’s shelters, child rehabilitation centers, needy and foster families. The social workers look at aspects such as a family’s source of income, how reliable it is, the number of family members living in the home, the amount and types of possessions, etc. We then use an assessment tool to determine which children of the community are eligible. Combining our expertise with local knowledge and eagerness to help children in need brings us success.  Partnerships with community experts help us build assistance strategy for each child participating in the program and the community in general.

Finally, our social workers do the due diligence and the math. We try to make sure that all of children in our targeted communities receive the help they need before opening another project in a different area. We do not discriminate children based on their parents/guardians religion, political affiliation, family background or criminal history, gender, ethnicity, nationality, language, or sexual orientation.