Ukraine Crisis continues: supporting refugees two years on

5 mins read time

As we enter a third year of conflict, we continue to support the most vulnerable refugee children, working with a group of orphans who fled from Ukraine as the war began.

​Currently staying at a state owned children’s home in Iasi, Romania, we are supporting the children with extra food, clothes, psychological help, social work and language lessons, helping them feel safe as they adapt and integrate into life in Romania. 

Grygoriy’s Story

Grygoriy*, who has just turned 18, was taken into care as a teenager as his father, who is an alcoholic, was not able to look after him or his older sister, and they had no other family they could stay with. 

Grygoriy and his sister fled to Romania, with the other children from the Ukrainian orphanage. It took him a long time to adapt to life in Romania but he has worked closely with the social worker and psychologist at the children’s home to help him feel settled and safe. 

Grygoriy iceskating in Romania

As Grygoriy was approaching his eighteenth birthday, the team had been helping him prepare for his future, providing him with career advice and helping him to access vocational courses in digital skills and English language lessons. They said, “Grygoriy is very bright, but found it hard to integrate and think about a future in Romania, since he has felt more settled, he is positive and excited to talk about what he would like to do in the future.” 

*names have been changed to protect the children’s identities. 

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Children on the Edge has a long history of working in Moldova and Romania which both border Ukraine. When the war started, two years ago, we were already in touch with our local partners and thanks to the huge outpouring of generosity from our wonderful supporters we were able to respond quickly, offering a lifeline to refugee families in Romania and Moldova. 

​Within one week we sent out initial funds to meet the emergency needs of the first wave of Ukrainian arrivals.

Within two weeks our £15K Emergency fund was providing transit accommodation for Ukrainians travelling through to wider Europe, as well as food and other supplies to refugees as they arrived in Romania and Moldova.

Within three months we had established a drop in centre in Romania, distributing over 10,000 food and essential supply parcels for Ukrainian refugee families in the city.

Within six months we were supporting a group of unaccompanied Ukrainian children who had fled to Romania from an orphanage in Dnipro. 

Within one year our partners had opened a community hub for Ukrainian families in Iasi. The hub is a safe place where families can access support, socialise with each other and join in with a huge number of activities each week including, exercise classes, language lessons, art, dance and drama classes.

As the war has no end in sight, the situation for Ukrainian refugees in Romania has changed, many thought their stay would be temporary, and now they are adjusting to a longer stay in the country. 

There is no longer the need for the drop in centre, as many families have found work and moved further out of the city. Volunteer refugees have taken over the running of the community hub, which is moving to a new location, and they have found a local organisation in Iasi who will support them with the ongoing running costs. 

Over the past two years we have been able to respond flexibly to meet the changing needs of Ukrainian refugees who have been forced to flee from their homes. As the war enters a third year and the situation changes for many Ukrainian families, we will continue to support the most vulnerable refugee children, ensuring that they feel safe, supported and helping them to have hope for their futures.