On March 13, research fellows of the Ukrainian Institute for Social Research discussed the problem of preparing boarding school children for independent life and examined the possibilities of teaching them the skills needed for adult life. In part, they discussed social services designed to adapt boarding school alumni to a new life in a way that would not be seen as intrusive by the young people. Research conducted by the institute suggests that a mere 18% of boarders can picture themselves living on their own. However, a mere 5% of the young people polled are confident they will be able to fend for themselves in the future. Thoughts of life outside the boarding school leave 93% of the children feeling uneasy and even fearful. To solve this problem, various new techniques are being developed in Ukraine to prepare children for the transition to adult life. These include foster families and hotlines, temporary caretakers, and training courses for older students at the boarding schools.
The experience of the Parental Home International Charity Foundation deserves special mention. This organization works as a rehabilitation center for children deprived of parental support or care. It has already raised a generation of its own. The first experience of releasing teenagers into the adult world was not very successful, and new ways had to be sought. Another building for six families remotely resembling a family-type children’s home has been built. Foster parents will raise in their apartments a dozen youths supervised by a family supervisor. They will live like an average family where all decisions on everything from the family budget to food, leisure, and supervision of the youngsters by the older children, will be made jointly. The Korneiko couple, the architects of the project, believe that even small children will notice how their ice cream is melting on a lamp left on or a circus ticket going down the drain together with the water running from a tap left on. To teach children how to face the reality of our world they are asked to solve their financial problems on their own. To this end sewing and woodworking shops have been opened and each family has its own vegetable garden in a common field. These resources can be used to cater to the needs of the family or make goods for sale. Everyone is free to choose.
When they come of age the young people will decide for themselves whether to remain with their foster families or move to a dormitory to be built in a nearby town. Rooms will be designed to accommodate two persons so that young couples could have a place to start their life together and young singles have a roof above their head at least for the initial period.
