The way home
The rapid political, social and economic changes in eastern Europe and central Asia over the past 20 years have had a deep impact on the well-being of families and children. Confronted with economic hardship, rising unemployment, increasing tensions and conflicts, social pressures and the crumbling of established social safety nets, many families have found themselves unable to cope with the difficulties of socioeconomic change and transition.
Domestic violence, neglect and abuse have pushed children to find a way to adapt to these harsh living conditions. For some children from troubled families, the streets have become their home or source of livelihood. The HIV epidemic has followed closely, and the number of HIV infections among street children has increased rapidly.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been working with governments and civil society organizations that have been pioneering work on HIV prevention, care and support for vulnerable populations. One such organization, The Way Home, is working to improve the lives of street children in Ukraine.
The Way Home aims to provide a circle of solidarity around the children. This means ensuring that the child has a full range of health and social services available around them for protection, care and support.
Trust points or drop-in centres usually represent the first point of contact with children and adolescents in difficult situations. There, they can build trusting relationships with caring adults, be sure that their immediate needs for food and shelter are met, work together with case managers to assess their life situations and identify the services and sources of support they need to begin their return to more normal lives.
UNICEF supports their work by bringing together community-based organizations and local health and social service providers, including youth-friendly clinics, and policymakers to strengthen and build circles of solidarity. These are cooperative networks of service providers at the city or municipal level that work together to facilitate access to protective health and social services so as to meet a variety of the needs of children in difficult circumstances. These also serve to build the resilience and skills among children in difficult life situations in order to increase their options for a better future.
“We have been working on replicating this and similar programmes in other cities and municipalities. What is extraordinary about these HIV prevention programmes is that you start by looking at how to stop a virus, and you end by looking at how to support a life. These programmes work with children and adolescents to build on their strengths and co-create opportunities for a life with dignity. That is why they make a difference,” said Nina Ferencic, Senior Adviser for HIV and Adolescents’ Health, UNICEF.
By reaching out to children with educational, legal, medical, social and psychological support as well as guidance in re-establishing contacts with family members, The Way Home is helping children damaged by involvement with drugs or years of living on the streets to get back on their feet.
“The street children come to us with a history of maltreatment, substance use and HIV risk. We link them to services that help them stay healthy and build their self-confidence and skills. The needs continue to grow. We have now opened our doors to others, including refugee children coming with the trauma of war. They also need support and services to find a Way Home,” said Sergei Kostin, Director of The Way Home, Odessa, Ukraine.
Read more in UNAIDS’ new report Right to Health.
