KYIV REGION The climbing frame in the Umanskyi family’s backyard is in heavy use. Especially a six-year-old gymnast Alice wants to show all his wild tricks.
A foster family with seven children has just settled into their new home in the Kyiv region. Behind is the escape from the Russian occupation.
When the director of the orphanage in Kherson almost two years ago knocked on the Umanskyi family’s door and asked them to save two orphans from the Russian occupation, Ivan and Iryna Umanskyi did not hesitate. In addition to four own children, the family already had one adopted child.
The Umanskys had already planned to escape when the Russian troops were only half a kilometer away from their home.
The father was worried about the quick departure, because he didn’t have time to write the adoption papers for the girls. They both also had siblings, but according to the orphanage, these ended up in Russia.
There were 20 Russian checkpoints on the escape route.
– They could have taken Alisa and Sofia, 9 because we didn’t have official papers yet. We risked a lot, says Ivan Umanskyi.
Sofia, 9, has lived with the Umanskyi family for two years.
He came to the family just before the escape from Kherson.
Bohdan, 13, is one of the adopted children of the Umansky family.
He has lived in the family for several years.
The war has worsened the situation of Ukrainian orphans. More than 19,000 of them have been taken to Russia and at least 13,000 children have lost their parents in the war.
In total, currently in Ukraine is according to estimates about 65,000 orphans or children living without parents.
The figures are from a Ukrainian children’s rights activist according to the organization only estimates, because many areas have been occupied and it has not been possible to gather information about the children or what has happened to them.
The Umanskys know very little about the background of their adopted children. Children don’t remember much of their past either.
– Maybe there is something traumatic because they have simply erased it from their memory. One of the girls somehow remembers her mother. We have no information about relatives, says Iryna Umanskaja.
Before the war, a large number of Ukrainian orphans were placed in old institutional orphanages. The model was inherited from the Soviet Union, and now various organizations are trying to get children a more home-like living environment.
There is a great shortage of foster families and family homes, and the homes of at least 80 foster families have been destroyed during the war. The extent of the problem will only become clear after the war, but now various organizations are trying to get foster families to take in more orphaned children.
– This is our vocation. Share our hearts and help these children, says Iryna Umanskaja.
“The biggest thing is being a father”
Currently, the Umanskyi family lives in the Kyiv region. For the safety of the children, does not reveal their exact place of residence.
They have just moved into a brand new home built by the president to Volodymyr Zelensky the wife Olena Zelenska foundation.
Olena Zelenska’s foundation has already built a dozen family homes for large foster families who have lost their homes. Foreign financiers have been involved in the construction. The Ukrainian SOS Children’s Village has also offered help to large foster families.
Ukraine is trying to get rid of institutional orphanages by offering foster families who take in children a home. There are usually five to ten children living in foster families, some may be the parents’ biological children.
The decibels rise in the Umansky family’s living room, when the whole group of children gets excited about the music competition on TV.
Ivan and Iryna are used to children’s screams. They obviously enjoy the fact that the children make noise and that the children dare to show their feelings.
– At about 50 years old, I realized that the biggest thing I can do is to be someone’s father. Gives children care and protection, says Ivan Umanskyi.
He left his previous profession and is now a full-time stay-at-home dad. Mother Iryna studies psychology at the University of Kyiv whenever she has time.
This summer, ten children are playing in the backyard of the Umanskyi family, as three new children from orphanages will join the family.
International adoption is currently suspended in Ukraine. It will only be continued when the war ends.