Help of the family-type orphanage from Apostolove

When Tetiana was 26 years old and her husband was 28, they started a foster family in 2012. "The decision to take children into our family was a balanced and natural one. After all, I am a social worker by training," says Tetiana.

As a student, Tetiana did her internship in shelters, orphanages, and rehabilitation centers, and even then she realized that a child needs a family environment to fully develop as a person.

After graduation, Tetiana worked in an orphanage in Fastiv as a legal advocate for children and a teacher. Then she worked at the district center for social services for families, children and youth, and it was then that Tetiana saw how orphans changed when they were placed in family environments and family-type orphanages. Around the same time, Tetiana met her husband, who was working in the police force at the time and saw with his own eyes how children in dysfunctional families lived. Therefore, when the couple moved to Apostolove, Dnipro region, they finally decided that they had the desire and ability to become parents to children without families. They gathered the necessary documents, went through training, and the family began to grow. Over the years, Tetiana and Dmytro have become parents to 12 children.

Currently, the family has 8 children aged 4 to 19, 6 of whom are foster children. The eldest daughter has already graduated from college and is working. Lisa is graduating this year with a degree in fashion design in Dnipro, two students are learning the profession of hairdresser, fashion designer, and makeup artist, and two boys are finishing 11th grade, future builders. Oleh (9th grade) wants to learn the profession of electric and gas welder, and the younger boys are studying at a secondary school. There is also a first-grader in the family, and the youngest daughter is studying remotely at a kindergarten.

"Before the war, the children attended volleyball and soccer clubs, they love outdoor games, play sports, do various physical exercises, take care of the cats and dogs that live with us, draw, play with construction sets, sculpt with plasticine, help their parents with the housework... We are never sad," says Tetiana.

The family lives in Apostolove, Dnipro region, very close to the front line, and therefore the city suffers from constant shelling. The family is preparing for a difficult winter, and the charging station we are raising funds for will help keep the house warm and powered in case of power outages.