Social workers upskill to help vulnerable families in Ukraine
After fleeing the ongoing war, Svitlana and her teenage son found hope in their darkest hour, thanks to a new project helping vulnerable families.
- Available in:
- Українська
- English
When Svitlana and her 15-year-old son fled the war and started over in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovka region, the loneliness was overwhelming.
Completely alone in a new town, Svitlana had no money and no time to work, since her son Pavlo lives with a disability and needs constant care. Life felt hopeless – then she met Oksana.
"We met with Svitlana and offered her a child-friendly environment where she could safely leave her son while attending to paperwork,” says Oksana, who works as a case manager for a project that helps families with children, run by the Dnipro League of Social Workers with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). “Pavlo began sessions with a psychologist, while we assisted his mother in accessing social benefits as a single parent and a member of a low-income household.”
Within a few months, Oksana and her colleagues had helped Svitlana to sign up for welfare assistance, start counselling with Pavlo and find a new place to live.
"The child is growing up,” says Svitlana. “I have to clothe him, treat him and I don't have enough money for that. When we moved here, the girls immediately started to help. And now I've started to receive payments, it's easier and I can look for a better place to live.”
"Now almost every family is vulnerable”
For the last six months, the Dnipro League of Social Workers’ project has been providing comprehensive psychological, legal, counselling and informational aid to scores of families facing vulnerability due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Case manager teams have been established in small communities, where the availability of social workers is often limited and the number of vulnerable families has surged due to the ongoing war.
"Now almost every family is vulnerable, regardless of whether they're internally displaced persons or permanent residents of the area,” explains Iryna, Project Coordinator for the Dnipro League of Social Workers.
“These families require professional support and assistance from people well-versed in effective strategies and equipped with the necessary tools.”
Svitlana and her son are among those to have found their support invaluable. Working with a specialist has had a positive effect on Pavlo and helped him adapt to their new home.
"We visited the psychologist several times and I noticed that he became calmer and more balanced," says Svitlana.
“Our specialists can help when a family is in crisis”
As part of the project, case workers regularly undergo training, ensuring they're equipped to provide expert guidance in even the most challenging circumstances.
"Our specialists can help to restore documents for internally displaced people, confirming the status of an extended family, for example,” says Iryna.
“We can also help when a family is in crisis, when the parents have no resources, when they are suffering from the war, or when children have shut down after spending a long time in shelters or under fire.”
Training, supervision and counselling are provided at a centre for social workers in Dnipro. Recently, in preparation for their latest meeting with Svitlana, her team of case workers took part in special training on responsible parenting skills. Now, they can advise Svitlana on techniques to soothe her son when he has tantrums and how to effectively manage her own emotions.
"When we talked about parenting, we placed particular emphasis on handling stressful situations,” says Yulia, the facilitator of the training. “How to navigate stress, raising children amid stress, understanding children's reactions, interpreting adult behaviours, and how adults can effectively comfort children during stressful times".
"Nowadays, it's crucial for adults to monitor their own resourcefulness, because it significantly impacts their ability to respond."
