KHARKIV STREET CHILDREN' PROJECT, UKRAINE

This is a project that was started in 2006 and continues up to the present. It is being included in this report since it is among the fours winners of the Systemic Change award for 2008. The following is a description of this project that was cited in the award.

“What the confreres hope to accomplish is to make a real Vincentian contribution to the city of Kharkiv in the post-Soviet time when massive social problems are being left unattended to.The project focuses on the most vulnerable of these groups, the street children.

At the beginning, the involvement of the children in the planning stages of the project was minimal. The project was carried out by many members of the various branches of the Vincentian Family in the city of Kharkiv; that is, the Congregation of the Mission, the Daughters of Charity, the AIC, the DePaul Foundation and to a lesser degree the Vincent de Paul Society.Once the program began just over a year ago, very quickly the children were listened to and their suggestions as to meeting places in the city and services at the DayCenter were acted upon. The program evolved to adapt to the reality that these children experience.

Clearly, this program is dealing with a wide range of human needs. The children have either run away from home or have been driven out of their homes, and are living in the streets.Theirs is a world of crime, glue-sniffing, alcohol, narcotics and prostitution.The project attempts to attend to the children individually, giving them a sense of self-worth and respect. Their medical and physical needs are addressed. But also, as trust develops, care is given to the emotional, social and educational needs. During the summer months, several of the children were helped to find temporary jobs.

The root causes behind the situation of the more than 130 children that the program has cared for, could be the prevalence of alcohol abuse, domestic violence, marriage break-up and the collapse of the social care which was offered under the Soviet Union.The project has an international dimension to it, and so they are required to comply with legal requirements, not only of the Ukraine, but Great Britain as well, which also provides for a greater transparency in regard to reporting.The project is very much a partnership and each element within the partnership has gradually been forced to abandon preconceived ideas and to come to a shared vision. Directly involved on a daily basis are the confreres, the Daughters of Charity, the AIC, the DePaul Foundation and the Orioni Sisters. Just two years ago the city denied that there was any problem in Kharkiv. Now the project cooperates with city authorities who have asked for the assistance of the members of the project. The media has been used for fund-raising and to help to raise the consciousness of the public.Presentations are given in schools by social workers, legal teams and local authorities.

The project is developed in three stages. Stage one is outreach in order to establish contact with the children. A mini-bus specially fitted so that up to ten children can sit inside and share a hot meal, goes to four locations in the city each night.Stage two is the DayCenter. As children become more trusting they are invited to come to the DayCenter based in St. Vincent’s Parish. As many as seventy come there each day.The third stage is sleeping accommodations. For the time being, the parish provides only emergency accommodations because of legal restrictions.”

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