Ukraine is a large country in Eastern Europe known for its Orthodox churches, Black Sea coastline and forested mountains. The country’s official language is Ukrainian spoken by 67% of the population. Russian is spoken by about 24% of the population. Other languages include Romanian, Polish, and Hungarian. Kiev is the capital city of Ukraine and tourists can find a plethora of magnificent religious architecture, monuments and museums within the city limits. According to online sources, Ukraine is home to approximately 42 million people with the largest majority being ethnic Ukrainian. The next largest minority group is Russian and Belarussians, Bulgarians, Poles, Hungarians and Romanians make up the other major minority groups.
Russia's occupation of Crimea in March 2014 and on-going aggression in eastern Ukraine have hurt Ukraine's economic growth. During these years, Ukraine lost a great deal of its heavy industry pushing millions of citizens into poverty. Recent talks with the EU and other organizations are expected to play a role in helping Ukraine find some economic and social stability.
The children available for hosting from Ukraine are typically school age (7-16 years old), singles or sibling pairs/groups who reside in orphanages. Although Ukraine has a budding foster care system, the majority of the children in state care still reside in institutional settings.
Some 82,000 children are said to live in orphanages in Ukraine. However, Ukrainian activists put the number closer to 200,000.
The 2014 U.S. State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) stated, "Children in orphanages and crisis centers continue to be particularly vulnerable to trafficking within Ukraine."
Condemned to a life of isolation and neglect, children with disabilities are transferred to adult psychiatric facilities or nursing homes when they are about 16 years old, where they will stay until they die. But those with little or no disabilities "graduate" from state-run institutions and find themselves ill-equipped to face life on their own.
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