Tetiana (name changed) lives in a community in Dnipropetrovsk Region. Her family consists of her husband, adult son, 8-year-old daughter, and mother; they also provided shelter to an internally displaced woman and her child. Tetiana owns a small family business — a shop and a bakery.
An important stage for the family was the decision to take in two children — a brother and sister aged 9 and 11, who had previously been removed from their biological family due to inadequate care. At the stage of forming a foster family, Tetiana had a number of questions about successful adaptation, finding the right approach to the children, the reaction of other family members, and whether she had enough inner resources for parenting.
At the request of the children’s affairs department, the mobile team of NGO Girls began working with the family to provide psycho-emotional support. The support process included several areas:
Work with the children — group sessions to assess their psycho-emotional state, reduce anxiety levels, develop healthy communication skills, and understand emotions.
Individual support for Tetiana — consultations on the needs of the teenage girl, addressing aggression and anxiety in the boy, and joint approaches to raising the children together with her husband and mother.
Individual work with the boy — a series of consultations to process his past experiences.
Thanks to the work with NGO Girls, Tetiana gained a better understanding of the children’s condition and how to interact with them, tension in the family decreased, and eventually the family made the final decision to adopt the brother and sister.
“I felt lighter and calmer knowing that I was not alone, that psychosocial support from NGO Girls was available, and that there were specialists who could advise and guide us on how to build relationships, how to talk, how to spend time together effectively, believe in ourselves, and find strength. It was also valuable to receive an external perspective on the children’s condition, how comfortable they felt in the family, and how the adaptation process was going,” Tetiana shares.
This story shows the importance of seeking professional support in a timely manner during periods of difficult life changes. When it is difficult to cope on your own, support from specialists is always available.
The project: “Strengthening access and service provision for SRH and GBV support among conflict-affected women and girls in eastern and southern Ukraine” in collaboration with the international humanitarian organization CARE, with the support of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.
