Homeless children in Ukraine have been accommodated in foster homes instead of boarding houses, Children’s Ombudsman Yuriy Pavlenko told a news conference, according to KW.
While at one time 90 orphanages for street kids were overloaded, today they are only 33% full. Pavlenko said in 2012 there were approximately 15,000 children in such orphanages, which in fact can accommodate 70,000 street kids.
Answering a question by a KW correspondent, the ombudsman stressed that such a number of orphanages for homeless children in Ukraine is excessive and they can be returned to the system of pre-school learning institutions. To be sure, they can be reconverted into nursery schools and kindergartens.
Also, over the past three years a decline in the death rate of newborns and the number of abortions has been observed in Ukraine. Last year, 18,000 more infants were born than in the previous year: 520,700 versus 502,600 in 2011. Finally, as of March 1, 2013 the number of orphans is 94,000, 80% of which are being raised in foster homes and in 2013 the subsidization of handicapped children living in foster homes was increase by 25%.
