The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation Has Helped Almost 10,000 Orphans Find Families

September 30th was a special date in Ukraine—it marked National Adoption Day.

Orphanhood has long since been a problem in Ukraine, with estimates saying that there are between 70,000 and 110,000 children currently living in orphanages. This number of course depends on which statistics you are looking at, and the exact number is hard to quantify. One thing is for certain, though: Ukraine has a serious and deep-rooted orphan problem that must be solved. 

In many cases, children are abandoned by their own families due to a lack of finances to support them. However, other reasons include problems like crime, illness, poor medical care, and alcoholism. Unfortunately, many children in Ukraine are facing a life without a stable, loving family, a life with an uncertain future. 

Since 2008, the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation has been fighting orphanhood. The Foundation established the first all-Ukrainian national adoption portal, Rinat Akhmetov for Children, and launched the ‘No to Orphanhood!’ campaign. 

What is the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation?

Rinat Akhmetov is a Ukrainian former politician, philanthropist, and entrepreneur who in July 2005 founded the Foundation for the Development of Ukraine, which is also known as the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.

According to Akhmetov, the purpose of founding the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation was to address the causes of great social problems and injustices in Ukrainian society. The goal for the Foundation is simple: Build a consistent strategy for social development within the country. The Foundation is entirely independent; there are no pressures or populist motives on its decision-making, and its activities are governed through professional expertise and coordination that has a focus on achieving its defined objectives. 

Mission: “Work for people by eliminating pressing social problems by adopting the best experience gained in Ukraine and abroad; by creating unique system decisions; by achieving the best results with each of our projects and activities.”

Principles: “The highest standards of transparency of projects and activities of the Fund at all stages: from the decision-making to summing up.”

Unprecedented in Ukraine

The No to Orphanhood! campaign is unprecedented in Ukraine. Since 2008, the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation has used the campaign to create 1,235 family-type orphanages as of the end of September 2021, which have adopted more than 10,000 children and helped them find loving families.  

The ‘No to Orphanhood!’ campaign also delivers training to adoptive parents, supports boarding school students, helps family-type orphanages, and promotes family-based forms of education in society.

The campaign is delivered through the Rinat Akhmetov for Children portal where profiles of orphaned boys and girls in dire need of adoption are posted. This portal acts as a link between orphaned children and willing adoptive parents. Over the years, the campaign has helped to change Ukrainian society’s attitude to the subject of orphanhood and made the once-taboo idea of adoption a widely accepted trend. 

While the campaign has been active for around 13 years now, its objective has remained the same: To help children find happiness, safety, and security in a loving family, as well as to show that adoptive parenting is a feasible and responsible step. 

“The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation does everything possible to ensure that every child grows up and is raised in a family, while promoting national adoption and providing support to adoptive parents, foster families, and family-type orphanages,” reads a press release from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation website. 

Why Akhmetov’s Work is Important

Living conditions at Ukrainian orphanages are very difficult for the children who end up there and reflect the many problems faced by the country in general. 

Children are often forced to share small accommodations with multiple other children, many can only shower once or twice per week, and education is often minimal or not provided at all. Meals are high in carbohydrates and low in protein, and fresh fruits and vegetables are rare. 

At the age of 16, orphans in Ukraine are forced to leave their orphanages and make their own way in life. This is down to a lack of funding; it’s simply not possible for them to stay as there is no money for them. Most children will leave orphanages lacking the basic skills to protect or provide for themselves in the real world, which contributes further to the country’s major social problems. 

It is these problems that illustrate why the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation is so important—it helps these orphaned children find families, reducing the chance that they will be thrown out onto the streets when they turn 16. The Foundation’s vital work has potentially saved over 10,000 children from crime, prostitution, prison, or worse. 

Other Rinat Akhmetov Foundation Campaigns

While the Foundation is widely recognized for its work on rehoming orphaned children, it operates several other charitable initiatives and campaigns. These include:

 “Stop TB in Ukraine”, which was created by the Foundation to help stop Ukraine’s tuberculosis (TB) epidemic by improving diagnostics and providing hospitals and clinics with access to high-quality diagnostic services and treatment. The campaign has been credited with helping decrease the Donetsk TB incidence rate by 22% when compared to 2008, and the death rate by 41%.

 “Cancer Can Be Cured”, which is Ukraine’s first large-scale national project established to help diagnose and treat cancer and bring Ukrainian treatment in line with global standards. The campaign has helped over 100,000 people with cancer diagnoses and treatments and has provided critical equipment to key partner hospitals.

“Targeted Assistance”, which is an initiative that supports Ukrainians who have found themselves in difficult life situations by providing emergency treatment and long-term rehabilitation. To date, it has helped over 20,000 people across Ukraine.