Whilst heartbreaking, it is true that many babies are still being abandoned in Eastern Europe, loss of rights, conflict, single parent, alcohol and drug abuse, the reasons are many and varied. Our partners diligently work to try and keep families together, but where that is not possible we will offer a loving, secure hug.
ChildAid helps meet the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of abandoned and disadvantaged babies.
Young children are orphaned due to their parents poverty, addictions and/or death. In addition, some of these children have a physical or mental disability such as cleft lip, causing the parents to reject the child. Through no fault of their own, this abandonment leads to a life of loneliness and helplessness as they live out their childhood in orphanages.
We work to restore the lost dignity of these children, dearly loved by God the Loving Father and to give them a chance to emerge from these institutions as capable, healthy adults with a chance to lead productive lives of their own. So often this starts as babies.
Where abandonment has already taken place, we support the babies in hospital and in the baby orphanages which will be their home until such time as they are either adopted or are sent to an orphanage for older children.
Through helping parents we encourage them not to give up on their little ones. Even simple food and clothing packages can make a difference; or where the baby has a disability, teaching the parents about how to care for their child and what opportunities exist as the child grows can help them to see a positive future.
Polina was unable to hold her own head up and could not walk, her eyes would continually reverse into their sockets, and she would cry almost continuously, she and was a deeply disturbed child. After 2 years of intensive treatment by our partners which included mental and physical stimuli, including playing in a shallow paddling pool Polina is now able to walk carefully and slowly providing that she is able to take hold of things as she goes. She smiles and understands when people speak to her, but cannot (yet) respond.
In Kamianske, Ukraine, we support a nurse who works in the children’s hospital and who cares only for babies who come to the hospital with no parents.
Without such a nurse, they would receive no love and would be in danger of clothing, nappies and medicines not being provided for them or the items mysteriously disappearing.
As well as providing 100% of funding for a room in the Children’s Hospital ChildAid also supports an additional two staff working in the local Baby Home, one of whom is a physiotherapist.
This enables us to provide a seamless and structured system of care from abandonment to sickness and so on, providing among many other things, health hygiene, creams, food, medication, nappies and additional help for those who live with disabilities.
