A frosty November morning, ice and snow greeted us in the small town of Kopychyntsi, Ternopil oblast. When we arrived at the house, Nelli met us on the doorstep. She lives here with her son Yevhen, cousin and niece Nastya. However, these are not all the residents - four more cats have found their home here.
Nelli and her family moved from Kyiv to Ternopil oblast at the beginning of the full scale war, and earlier in 2014 from Luhansk: "We moved to Kopychyntsi in 2022 It turned out that the people here are very friendly, they found us a house, settled us in, and didn't
charge us anything for it, we only pay for utilities," - Nelli shares her story
The family has been living in Ternopil oblast for about two years now Nataliia, a case manager of the Charity Fund "Posmishka UA”, helped the family with the arrangement of their new home Nelli recalls how it all started when she and her family moved into this house:
"We had no beds, no desks for the children to study at So it was thanks to Nataliia that we got beds, and she quickly organized bedding and desks for the children."
Thanks to the creation of appropriate conditions, her son Yevhen and niece Nastya were able to study at a local school, where they found new friends and hobbies: "Zhenya goes to volleyball and tennis, he likes it very much. He is almost busy with something every day."
Also, thanks to Nataliia's support, Nastya was able to attend hippotherapy: "In the summer, she was there almost every day - feeding the horses, riding, and she's getting good at it," - Nelli says with a smile.
Nataliia has been working as a case manager at CF "Posmishka UA" for more than a year, and has ten years of experience in the field of social services:
"My role as a case manager is to be an intermediary between the family, the child, government agencies and charitable organizations to resolve their domestic and other issues." The specialist began helping the family in June 2023.
"They really needed food packages, hygiene products, because they had nothing with them. Their clothes were in the suitcases they came with, they really needed wardrobes. And I realized that I had to work with this family a lot on a regular basis. There was also an urgent need for psychological help for both mothers and children," - Nataliia says.
Nelli and her children are very pleased with the cooperation with the specialist, because as soon as any difficulties arose, Nataliia always helped the family to solve them:
"In the summer, we had a disaster. There was a hurricane and our windows and doors were damaged. We wrote an application, and they helped us to replace the windows and install a door."
Zhenya and Nastia are not the only children who have received help within the project. So far, the project has reached 35 children in Kopychyntsi - children with disabilities, internally displaced children, and children in difficult life circumstances: "They all needed help and we provided it. But in our town and the surrounding villages of the community, there are many more children who are not covered by this assistance, and they are in dire need of it," - the specialist says.
Nataliia is convinced that every community should have a social worker: "Not all parents can fully meet their child's basic needs. They can't always provide the appropriate upbringing for their child, but when they are encouraged and guided to do so and made to understand that they are not alone, these people become strengthened, they become stronger because someone is helping them."
Most of the problems that Nelli and her family faced have been resolved, so now there is hope for a better future.
"For a while, I thought that everything could end very quickly. I didn't see anything bright, but thanks to the project's specialists and a psychologist, I got hope that everything would be fine. I think that the children will have a bright future and this country too," - says Nelli.
This is not the final step in helping Nelly's family, but there are already some results, and this is the best thing that can be gained from working as a case manager, Nataliia believes:
"I get the most satisfaction in my work when I see the result when a child smiles, when I see how confident and happy a mother becomes, and I realize that my work is not in vain."
Within the project "Courage in the palms of hands“, Tdh trained and employed 16 specialists in four oblasts in the West of Ukraineю During this time, about 800 families received comprehensive individualized support, and 2 700 children received the necessary social services.
The project "Courage in the palms of hands - Strengthening the protection of internally displaced children" is implemented by the Western Ukrainian Child Protection Consortium, which includes Terre des Hommes Foundation in Ukraine, Charity Fund “PosmishkaUA” and Charity Fund “Yellow-Blue Wings”, with the support of the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund.
