The NGO Together for Life has organized an extraordinary foster care program in the Valencian Community for July and August for one hundred Icranian children aged six to twelve from towns and villages in the Chernobyl zone who suffer a situation of double risk, since they have radioactivity levels increased and it was one of the closest points to the border with Belarus where Russian army troops entered and devastated homes.

“There is a very rural subsistence economy and families have not been able to leave or have had to return and there are many with minors who are still at risk. Their houses have been destroyed, they live in fear of the war and they fear that the situation will repeat itself”, laments the president of the foundation, Clara Arnal, who has toured these areas to find out about the situation.

In fact, "it is the mothers themselves who are asking to take their children to Spain, this year more than ever, so that they can have a break in the midst of this terrible situation that they are experiencing in Ukraine."

Among the minors who will be welcomed in the summer, half will go to a summer camp in Valencia organized by the NGO with volunteers, so their needs in this case are covered. But as there are many requests for minors to leave Ukraine, host families are needed for the rest of the children who will travel at the end of June and will spend two months in the Community.

Host families will have to bear part of the cost of the minors' bus ride from their Ukrainian towns and villages to the Community. It will be a trip of three days to go and as many to return.

The program has the support of the Provincial Government Subdelegation and the Inclusive Policies Department through the Directorate General for Children. “We are very concerned about the protection of minors, that is why we are not moving them from orphanages, only those who have the permission of their parents or guardians who have expressly asked us to do so,” underlines the president of the entity.

The foster care will be carried out only in the three provinces of the Community where Together for Life is based, considering that the psychosocial monitoring and accompaniment of these minors during their stay is essential “now more than ever”.

This NGO has been carrying out foster care programs with Ukrainian children for twenty-five years. Many of these minors have been in the Valencian Community since the beginning of the war, even with their mothers and siblings, welcomed by their Spanish families. But many others continue to live there and need to get out of that situation as soon as possible.

“Also on this occasion, just like every year, these minors who are going to come for the first time would continue to come in the summer and at Christmas every year, thereby establishing a link between the minors and their families,” recalls Clara Arnal. in a call for solidarity and collaboration of Valencian families. Interested parties can apply through the entity's website.