Donate to the Ukrainian Orphan Project
Neufeld Institute’s Support for Ukraine’s Family Care for Orphans Initiative
In December 2022, we received a formal invitation from the City of Kyiv to help train and support their social workers as they work to prepare families to welcome orphans into their homes from Ukraine’s system of orphanages. In 2025, we were asked by the Coordination Center for the Development of Family Upbringing and Child Care of the Ministry of Social Policy, Ukraine, to provide training for over 4,000 foster and adoptive parents.
To continue offering these programs, we urgently need funding to support our facilitators and cover the costs of online delivery. Your donation — big or small — will help us reach more families, more children, and bring hope and healing where it’s needed most.
Read Gordon Neufeld's editorial on
We became acutely aware of the extent of the unfolding tragedy involving the children of Ukrainians fleeing the war in their home country during a Neufeld Institute conference in Prague this spring. In addition to reports from our language directors in Czechia and the Netherlands and their respective governments, we also met with concerned representatives from the countries of Norway, Finland, and the United Kingdom, with the help of the Embassy of Canada in Prague. In part because we are already involved in helping the government of Ukraine shift from an orphanage system to a family-based foster system inside of Ukraine, we are being looked to as well for some understanding and leadership regarding the children of Ukraine whose families sought refuge in other countries. We continue to explore these opportunities to be of help.
Dr. Gordon Neufeld has written about what is happening emotionally to these children — and what can be done.
Read the editorial here: → Ukraine's displaced children: an unfolding crisis of well-being
SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES: NEUFELD INSTITUTE UKRAINIAN PROJECT
Between January 2023 and June 2026, the Neufeld Institute Ukraine team has delivered 19 courses to a combined total of 3,796 participants — 2,203 social workers and professionals, and 1,593 foster parents — across 25 regions of Ukraine.
The project began in December 2022 with a request from Kyiv's Social Service Center and has since expanded through a formal consultancy agreement with Ukraine's Ministry of Social Policy. Courses are offered free of charge to all participants. Administrative oversight from the Neufeld Institute is provided pro bono.
Courses delivered include Making Sense of Aggression, Making Sense of Anxiety, Alpha Children, What Do Children Need, and the newly translated The Art and Science of Transplanting Children. A request has also been received from the Netherlands to support professionals working with Ukrainian refugee families displaced by the war.
Funding has been received from the Canadian Ukrainian Foundation and the Temerty Foundation. Private donations continue to cover facilitator costs and online delivery.
Donations of $25 or more receive a Canadian charitable tax receipt. You may also designate how your gift is used — just add instructions in the PayPal “Add Special Instructions” field. If our mission resonates with you, we’d be deeply grateful for your support.
Thank you for helping us bring developmental science into practice — and into the lives of those who need it most.
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