The Forgotten Children of Ukraine Our World

yet they spend much of their lives

in children's homes,

some in shockingly bad conditions.

Nikki Fox reports for Our World.

Ukraine, independent from the Soviet

Union since 1991. In communist times

having a disability would more than

likely mean you would spend your

entire life in an institution. That

still happens today. More children

live in state care in Ukraine than

anywhere else in Europe.

A third

have a disability. You can't really

say how bad they are until you see

them, until you are there, because

these are dark places.

I Nikki Fox

and I'm here to find out what life

is like for the thousands of

disabled people who live in

institutions just like this one.

I'm

very embarrassed. 750 institutions.

It is a huge number.

Legally parents

can leave their child in a state-run

institution and it encouraged. But

some families choose instead to

fight to keep their children.

Now the government wants all

institutions closed, at what will

happen to those whose only know this

kind of life? Hidden away in the

Ukrainian countryside, where the

nearest town is 60 kilometres away.

This is where 86 disabled men and

boys live. I've been given access to

this government run institutions,

are placed so many don't see.

There's little routine and many of

those living here aren't clean.

There's just not enough staff here

to look after everyone. Abuse and

self harm happens in places like

these. So green paint is used to

help staff keep track of injuries.

For most of this is all they've ever

known. In this tiny room I meet

Yuri. He's 15 years old. Even though

he's had a family, he has lived in

this orphanage since he was four.

There are just 12 orphans here. The

rest have families. Loved ones they

rarely see. How long have the kids

or adults being here? The nurse

tells me that this man has been here

for 20 years. She says he is 32.

Even at this age they are still seen

as children. The man who runs this

place was keen for me to see how

they work with the boys. These are

really lovely. Thank you.

I was also shown as singing lesson

with volunteers. I'm told it's a way

of improving communication, but

activities are sporadic. Another

room paints a very different

picture. This is the reality for so

many disabled people who live in

institutions. There are some people

who will see the film and think this

is not the right situation for

anyone to live in.

Emotions are everywhere when you are

inside. It really hits you. It

really hits you. One minute I was

incredibly sad, the next minute I

was being halved by someone and I

was smiling and so it's nothing like

I'd ever experienced before -- being

hugged. Across Ukraine there are

more than 100,000 children in

institutions. It estimated around

90% have families like Andre. His

mother Tatiana was told an orphanage

was the best place for him because

he has cerebral palsy. Did you feel

like you were forced to make that

decision, to have to give Andre a

way?

But the reality was very different.

Pining for his mother, Andre became

seriously ill. Instead of taking him

to hospital, staff at the

institution just left him in a broom

to die. -- room.

How does that make you feel?

Tatiana lives in a remote village

with no support or services her son

needs. Because of this she felt she

had no choice but to give him up.

Closer to the capital, I meet a

group of parents who have built up

their own services. Larissa? Nikki.

A small centre providing essential

care. Offering families to support

they need to keep their children at

home. As I'm shown around, I meet

young people with some of the most

complex needs. Oh, hello! They learn

ways of communicating and there are

plenty of full list -- fully trained

staff on hand to look after each

child.

Not only does Sasha come to this

centre to help her son developed, it

also gives her a break. Can you

imagine what your life would be like

if he wasn't able to come here?

When Sasha gave birth to her son,

she was told to leave him in an

orphanage and have a healthy child.

Despite such pressure, she refused

to give him up, but it's taken its

toll.

It gets tiring, doesn't it?

This place can only do so much.

Sasha is still battling against the

widely held belief that here

disabled children are not able to

live a normal life. But there is

some hope. Ukraine is changing and

there is now the political will to

make sure children are no longer

spend hidden away from society --

childhood is no longer. This man has

a difficult task. I want to have

this as a national programme... He

is heading up the government's

radical reforms to close all

institutions, eradicating a system

that has been in place for nearly a

century.

I'm very embarrassed

because 750 institutions around

Ukraine and it's a huge number. More

than 100,000 children live in

institutions. More of them have

families, but because these families

can't give enough support, they gave

their children to these

institutions. They've never seen a

city, they've never seen a train,

they've never seen a market. Every

day nothing happens. That's why it

is about hope. It's about hope. They

have no hope.

The change in the law

will help give these children and

their families more rights.

Time for

reform and reform for children with

disabilities means we will support

the family, we will give an

opportunity to stay at home and to

have enough services to live a

normal life.

One thing that has already changed,

a new law that means all schools in

Ukraine must teach disabled

students.

I am almost Ukrainian! In a

secondary school in Kiev, this is

one of a small number of disabled

due to its can now take part in

lessons with other children and she

loves it. -- he loves it.

The main challenge for him is

getting to his classes. The school

has tried to be more accessible, she

has to rely on his dad to get him

around. How much do you love school?

Give me a smile. There it is.

So many families here don't have

that support. They don't have any

support, so you have a child, your

child has a disability, is got to

get your head around that and venue

got to find out, how am I going to

look after my child? And part of

that is education, because with that

there's social interaction and all

those wonderful things that we

probably all take for granted. So

for the families, no one is going to

want their kids to miss out on that.

No one is really going to want their

kids to go on an institution. While

I've been in Ukraine I spent time at

an orphanage or than three hours'

drive from the capital, Kiev. Now

I've been given access to another

state-run institution that is much

closer. It's a home for girls and

women up to the age of 32. And it

feels very different. In every room

there are activities going on, from

dancing to selling. Everyone here is

engaged. -- sewing. These young

people have a range of different

disabilities and even though the

majority have parents, this is their

home. Under the government's new

reforms, institutions like this one

will close. There is strong

resistance from many who run them.

Do you accept that there are other

institutions, very different from

your one, and the conditions are,

you know, the conditions are a lot

worse?

Do you think it is located to child

could be in an institution for the

whole of their life? -- do you think

it is a cave

Not all of the residents agree with

her. Bachar is 20 years old, she

came here when she was 12. She

spends her time reforming and

reciting Pruitti with a four

performing and reciting poetry which

is able to do here, but Dasha the

best place to be her life. -- does

not want this place to be her life.

Would you like to live one day if

you could? The lady who runs the

place is pretty adamant that she

doesn't think institutions should be

closed. She said something that

we've all been thinking, you know,

it is going to happen to these kids,

these kids that have got various

disabilities, some very complex.

It's all well to good to say let's

close these places but what is

there? What will be their life

after?

Talking about reforming

institutional care systems, people

are asking me what about the

children with severe disabilities?

You will never do something for

them? People can't imagine that in

the other countries, these children

can be living a normal life. And

they will be in small group homes,

do develop alternative care for

these children.

There are no easy

answers. Many disabled children and

adults will need some kind of

residential care. But this will take

time and money. I visited to make

very different orphanages at their

hundreds across Ukraine with many

thousands of disabled children.

So

there is no rehabilitation?

The

neglect many experiencing care was

highlighted in a report by the

charity Disability Rights

International, published in 2015.

They visited dozens of institutions

and documented how bad some of these

places are.

The result of research

done that institutions, for the

disabled child, stunt not only their

physical growth but their

psychological growth and we knew

where there you can easily see that.

You see a baby will not integrate

with the world unless the world into

rucks with the baby. And I think it

is bad not only for people who are

in the orphanages but also for the

staff members. They all get tangled

in the system that strips a lot of

human traits from both sides. You

cannot really say how bad they are

until you see them, and surely with

there, because these are dark

places. I think sometimes it is, as

a person or even before as a prison

or even worse than a prison.

Andre

was left in one of those dark places

to die. He was lucky he was rescued

by volunteers who forced their way

into his room. Now his story is one

of hundreds. -- group. Natasha is

one of the nurses who helped him

recover in hospital. She is now his

foster mother. You have such a

lovely relationship with him, it is

quite wonderful.

He seems like a different boy with

you now. Are you proud of the

progress he's made?

Natasha is desperate to keep Andriy.

But his future is still uncertain.

Take Andriy who we met, he is with a

foster family but they are looking

for international adoption for him.

Is that concern you, the fact that

there are no services, there may not

be a solid family for him that he

will have to be adopted abroad?

We

want to have Ukrainian family but we

understand it is very hard to find.

Not because we have no, not in

loving families but we have a lack

of services. It's why maybe he would

be better for him to find an

international family. As for me,

yeah, it's not good feelings. We

need support. I'm talking with an

international agency and its

different government, different

countries, about support for

Ukraine. Because no one country,

Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, they

didn't do this themselves.

With

thousands of disabled children and

young people in need, finding a

loving family is not an easy task.

It was one of those who dreamt of a

different life. In desperation and

with a bit of government help from

Nikolai, he used social media to

find an adoptive family.

And the video went viral. Eventually

after a life spent hidden away in

institution, the 23-year-old got

what he wanted.

She in Ukraine, I've met parents who

have fought to keep their children

out of institutions. Alexander and

his life have an apartment on the

third floor with no lift, they have

adapted their life in order to raise

their son. Sasha is now setting up

her own centre. She wants to help

other disabled children. And Andriy

is finally getting the love he need.

For now.

But I've also met children and

adults who have no one. Day is still

that acceptance that if you have a

child that has a disability it is

fine to go into an institution so

while the government will be putting

forward plans, including education,

small residential places for this up

they've -- disabled people, it will

take time but it isn't just that, it

is also changing attitudes, society

has to change. It cannot be just

bought that this disabled child will

go into an institution and that is

except did. And the people we met

stick with me, they stick in my

head, because no matter how many

plans are made, and how much change

happens, most people are never going

to see anything other than those

four walls or different reactions of

those walls, but will be their life.

Go for different variations. -- that

will be their life.