Rejected: Ukraine’s Unwanted Children (Child Documentary) | Real Stories

Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 under the Soviet system a mother could abandon her newborn baby in the maternity ward by simply handing it over to the state. Today, the legacy of that system is that state care has become the norm for

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ren with any type of disability. There are 10 times more

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ren in state care in Ukraine than in England. After two decades of Independence, I have come to discover how disabled children are cared for in institutions today. Looking at her I can see that she is in a very chronic condition, I know she could die.

I also want to meet young people who have grown up under the care of the state and hear their

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according to the United Nations charter, of which Ukraine is a founding member. We all have basic rights, regardless of illness or disability. But even when they grow up, many of Ukraine's orphans remain trapped in the system, without the right to appeal or have their voices heard. Very little, all those who do it have no rights because they are incapacitated. I don't understand what mentally incapacitated means. she said says they can take away your camera get out as soon as possible I want to know what life is like for the children of Ukraine who live and die in the care of the state it's so sad as the co-hosts of Euro 2012 Ukraine are eager to prove it deserves a place at the EU table around 9 billion, more than half of its public money has been spent on stadiums, airports, trains and hotels, but while money has been found for infrastructure in the main cities, the budgets for caring for us, the weakest members of the Ukrainian society has been under pressure in the last decade, the number of state-funded institutes caring for children has increased as families have felt the pressure of economic collapse of the country after independence from the Soviet Union.

For the next 6 months I will be filming the lives. from a group of children at a high school in southern Ukraine that I filmed before in orphanages in Bulgaria and Greece and witnessed harrowing scenes of abandonment and abuse, but it is very easy to criticize individual caregivers, which I want to understand here in Ukraine It's how the system as a whole treats disabled children, so I've come to an institute with caring staff. This house houses more than 100 children of very varied abilities, from five years old to adulthood. happy boy although he has no hands or feet he is tremendously independent his mother gave him to the care of the state when he was a baby and he has been in this institute for the last six years, which makes him what in Ukraine is called a social orphan , this means that, like many of the children here, his parents are still alive but unable or unwilling to care for him.

Leoser is proud to make his own bed and does not allow caregivers to help him go to daycare. WC Oh, it's Kya Kaa is another social orphan. She also has living parents who gave her to the care of the State when she was a baby. She has been here for 18 years. She grew up unable to walk. She only in recent years she became M. Nikolai is the one at the institute. director is clearly very committed to those in his care the problem is that children with chronic illnesses are sent to the Institute and he simply does not have the qualified staff or medical facilities to care for them Ukraine has the worst HIV AIDS epidemic in Europe and one of The fastest growing epidemic in the world among his children Nikolai is challenged to care for an HIV positive child that the caregivers are afraid to care for.

Ideally, Nikolai would like to see all of his children grow up in one family, but so far not a single one. A child has ever been adopted from this institute. You see, this is formal and official. Nikolai becomes desperate because he has sent children who have multiple problems. Six-year-old Sasha is one of those kids who is losing weight and Nikolai is losing weight. To do? So small, isn't it? He is so small. Sasha's parents left him in the maternity hospital because he had so many problems, so many health problems, he doesn't like to be touched and also he has something like hyperflexibility, you know? when all the hips and joints can twist from the inside out I think you like to be touched yes, you are little Olga is medically responsible for all the children here it is difficult to get qualified personnel to work in remote institutes and she had retired by the time Nikolai He asked her if she would become a doctor at the institute 5 years ago, she agreed, although she is actually a dentist.

NASA has written better for years. Her ribcage is deformed and it is impossible to feed her and basically her respiratory canals are very narrow and twisted. since she was born and she is horrible, she suffers from horrible epileptic seizures how long has she been here? No, since she was five years old. Do you have parents? Yes, she is a social orphan. Her parents have renounced her rights and have never visited her. Nadia is 10 years old, she has a large cyst on her head which means she can't sit up or move, she just stands here watching and listening, her whole brain is in this Cy, as basically what's left in her skull is fluid , he says, and only connective. tissues, but all her bra is outside, she was seen by a consultant when she was still Bab, can you imagine being one of these children?

Can you imagine being him there old every day for maybe 20 years, you know, or Sasha, you know? Sasha is never going to get better because you know that at the end of the day they just leave them when a baby is abandoned at birth, put them in a baby unit until they are three, and then move them to a children's home until they are five before they are passed on. to an institute like Nikolai's until adulthood, according to Nikolai, going as an orphan is a bit of a lottery, so children who with loving care could have lived a normal life end up next to people with quite serious disabilities and very needs. different. the way they take care of you is also a shared meal, most of the caregivers are not trained and although some are interested in the children, they care, others do the minimum, their job requires simply washing and feeding the children, this institute has caregivers who do the best they can, but with a ratio of nine children to one caregiver it is not an easy task under the Soviet system, it was widely accepted that institutionalized care of disabled children was potentially better than parental care, it was He considered parents to be ignorant in the field of raising children and, although it was accepted that parents had the right to raise their own children, this was considered a delegated right of the state, today disabled children like Leosha invariably They grow up with the state as their guardian.

Leosha and Kya are best friends and spend a lot of time together, their parents have never visited them. By the way, the current government says it is in favor of deinstitutionalization, but despite this, according to UNICEF, the number of children in institutions has doubled in the last 10 years. Poverty, unemployment, alcoholism and drug use are the main reasons why children are abandoned. drive from the nearest city, this institute, like many in the former Eastern Bloc, feels hidden. The housing area for orphans is divided into different buildings that separate the bedridden disabled and the adults. Nikolai has fought to get additional funding for the children in his care and in fact, this institute receives approximately 40% more per capita than the average for the region, but when one of Nicolai's children has to go to the hospital, he must provide all food, diapers and medications during their stay, three very sick children recently arrived at the hospital.

At the Institute, no one hid the fact that these children were sent here to die, two of them already died, two died quickly, but the remaining girl, Margarita, is in a very bad condition in the local hospital, we are on our way to see Margarita, but we have to film it secretly because Nikolai is anxious because he will not receive the treatment he needs once the child recovers basically, the oxygen level in his blood is very low, this is the doctor, he said that at this moment the state of this child is something like uh, satisfactory, if her temperature drops, they will send her in this condition back to the Internet, which is not a hospital and the Inter is not a hospital.

I don't understand why she can't have the responsibility of trying to keep the girl in the hospital. until she gets better with or without temperature, it's just not fair. I do not know i do not know. I don't decide that an experienced pediatrician would join us. I'm not a doctor, but looking at her I can see that she is in a bad state. This girl has a very chronic condition. You know she could die. Whether she has a temperature or not, I cannot understand how two doctors could send her out of the hospital to an institute where there are no medications.

I can not understand this. Can you try to explain it to him? For me, this is not our level, solving problems, treatment does not depend on us, so if the doctors do not make the decisions, Margarita has parents, as do most of the children and young people who live at the Nikolai Institute. , when a child turns 18, it is the norm. be transferred to an adult institute, but Nikolai tries to offer everyone he can a continued life here instead of letting the authorities take care of scattering them all over the country in large unknown adult institutes or in nursing homes while filming With these adults, I became aware of a status in Ukraine that seems to keep young people in the system even when they are capable of living in society some young people are officially given incapacitated status by the court a person can be categorized as incapacitated if they are considered who are unaware of their actions or have no control over them, most of Nikolai's adults have this status and for many of them I would not have questioned their need for long term care, but it appears that this status is also granted to some who are quite capable of being integrated into society Maava, a Ukrainian businesswoman and leading expert in the gas supply industry, has been trying to help orphans in Ukraine for more than a decade and now her mobile phone number is constantly circulating among the inmates as someone who will listen and try to help her. focuses on helping young disabled orphans who are held by the state in psychiatric institutes and nursing homes Tatiana called the cell phones of two disabled young people she has been trying to help and who are being held in a nursing home and She asked them if they would be willing to meet with us secretly because she knew they would never get permission to talk to us officially because they were considered not responsible for their actions.

They agreed, so we met them in a labyrinthine field near the Senior Institute. Where do you live now? How old were you when you were diagnosed as mentally incapacitated? He is now about 30 years old. Leon was first sent to a nursing home 15 years ago, but the conditions here are not as bad as in the Novitzki psychiatric asylum where Leon was. imprisoned in 2007 claims that antipsychotic medications were abused there as punishment for what type of work did you have to do at the Institute how many of your friends also suffered this punishment what was the worst thing you witnessed one thing is being mentally ill and You need to live in a environment with lifelong caregivers, but another thing is if you are capable of living independently and are being held by the system against your will.

We were about to talk to Leona's friend, Lava, also an intern at the same geriatric institute. Far away, the voice of that person and the dog, the director of the institute had found out that there were outsiders in the area, he is very small, everyone simply does not have any rights because he is incapacitated, I will call the police, okay, it will be better Let's get the camera. We better change pretty quickly because the police may have already done it, they could just threaten us, but it's better for us to leave anyway, but what are our names Tatiana?

She says they are capable of anything. They can call the police and You can take the camera away, they found it, so what do you think is the worst case scenario? Tana says they can check them into an institution for the mentally disabled and give them more aminazine injections and, uh, giper doll. I'm asking you what we do. can

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ly do to protect them what can she do what can we do because we are

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ly worried about what will happen to them but they have her phone number so she is the first point of contact for them so they will contact she if anything changes right it's unpredictable she said Tatiana says that basically when orphans graduate from orphanages there is nowhere for them to go and she says it's very easy to lock them up in these types of institutions because they are free labor Tatiana He says that any resistance from The Lads has always resulted in them being punished.

What I don't understand is why she seems to be fighting this battle alone. Where is the attention of the rest of the country? Government Ministers.US. Well, where is everyone else when it comes? To this Tatiana says that I have appealed to so many institutions and people and um B basically there is no response, they don't care. Has Tatiana heard anything from the boy since we left? She tried to contact those LS but she couldn't. They don't answer their cell phones, she will keep trying but the way things are at the moment she doesn't know what's happening to them and she says I pray to God that everything ends well Nikolai knows that many of his orphans are destined for the type of institute where Leona and Slava, but for a small group of Nikolai's boys there is hope for a better life.

Nikolai has selected some of the most capable as boys with the greatest potential to learn and develop and he wants to avoid this. prevent them from becoming adults who are even more institutionalized and seen as incapable of learning, so he plans to move a select group to a house being renovated on the Institute's campus and educate them. Nikolai managed to obtain donations from Russia for the renovation, the Ukrainian government also contributed after Nikolai highlighted how things need to change, it is a big responsibility to take on in such a remote place but Nikolai wants to start giving his children a better life and this is the first time.

Step The children will live and learn together as an extended family. When you think about moving into the tiny house. What feelings do you have inside you? Are you going to help when you're in the little house you like? help the staff the children will move to the group home in a few weeks but in the meantime life continues unchanged Seri is 15 years old and his parents turned him over to the state when he was little his notes say he has been diagnosed with oligophrenia this is a diagnosis of the Soviet era not recognized in the West, it translates as weak-minded, although his files also indicate that Sergy dreams of having a family and gets angry when he is ignored, appears to be very capable and has a real interest in anything technical.

The new group home series has been told that there will be a computer for him to use. Sasha is the leader of the children moving to the group home and is very popular and cares about his file, he says that he suffers from hydris and a certain degree of idiocy, but also notes that he is very cooperative and very helpful with the staff, with So many people to care for and a lack of individual attention and stimulation, institutionalization begins with children displaying classic behaviors such as rocking and self-Haring in 2006, when Ukraine ratified the UN. convention on inhuman or degrading treatment the government promised to create an independent oversight system for the institutes within a year, but six years later human rights groups say no effective system exists.

Around 8,000 children are believed to be in residential care in Ukraine, although figures are unclear to authorities institutional life often lacks any real structure there are few attempts to integrate orphans into the local community they tend to be hidden from view society without education or developmental care and without sufficient stimulation it is inevitable that children will go downhill it has been 3 months since We were here last and life at Nikolai's Institute is particularly stressful because he has very sick children to take care of, but Today this is officially a non-medical establishment. However, there is a good atmosphere on campus, since Sergey Sasha and the rest of the guys.

In a few weeks they are rehearsing for the opening ceremony of the group home, before the speech Nikolai has just learned that a surprise educational evaluation by the local authorities will be carried out today and the children who will enter the group home have been named as those who will be All those evaluated are concerned that this evaluation could jeopardize the movement of some of the children if they are classified as not able to learn. Saser is first and is very nervous ahead, before each of the other children then evaluate what is happening. After conducting these evaluations, Nikolai was not explained the purpose of the evaluation nor was he told how the children had performed, but hopefully all of the children will be allowed to move into the new group home as planned.

It's been 3 months since we were last there. in Ukraine and Tatiana has continued to fight for the freedom of the disabled, she has managed to free a handful of young people from the institutes where they were detained, transferring guardianship to her. Tatiana has arranged for us to meet Boris him. He is officially incapacitated but while he was living in an institute a worker Sina met him and with Tatiana's help she was able to take care of Boris, born in the Soviet era. Boris has never been happier than living here with Zena whom he calls mother and his mother whom he calls grandmother is very proud to finally have a family his dream is to get rid of his disabled condition to be able to enjoy the basic rights of those who live freely in society this is where Boris SES is growing seeds here Boris has a friend Misha who is also incapacitated were in an institute together and Tatiana also found him a guardian who allowed him to come and stay with Boris fore fore spee for spe for foree Boris had no idea that he was incapacitated until Zen tried to become his guardian, but Boris was an inmate of the same nursing home where Mayfield's Leona and Slava still live.

Nikolai hopes that by giving some of his children the chance to live in a group home, they can escape. The kind of life in an adult institute that Boris had to endure today that the children selected for the group home move to is a day of mixed emotions for Leosha. He's starting a new life in a small group home just a few hundred yards away, but he's leaving his best friend C behind fore fore fore foreign speech speee foreign spee spe fore foreign fore foreign for foreign speech fore spee fore foreign speech foreign foreign speech foreign foreign speech not to spee fore for the first time in their lives all these kids will receive regular education according to an independent sociological institute at least 20% of those labeled as disabled are perfectly capable of living independently while Boris waits your next court date, enjoy spending some time with Misha in the local community you walked past Tatiana feels that the fate of the disabled reflects a system that sees them as useless and disposable people it has been 3 months since the last time We saw Sasha is weaker now he eats well but he is losing weight and they can't explain it why I find it surprising that a professional would look at him and his condition and say: "you're fine, you can go back to the Institute, you're fine, foreign speech, Regardless of the growing cyst on Nadia's head, she still manages to stay cheerful because two of Nikolai and Margarita's bedridden nastu are back in the hospital after having had a brief stint at the Institute.

NASA will be discharged in a day or two, but she needs more diapers, so he heads to the hospital with her. The supplies don't seem to be too medical here. Anyone here? There is no ghost town when we arrive, we can't find staff. We have lost. No, no, there are simply no doctors. He's trying to find someone on the medical staff. That's all. Can you smell it? Alo just smells like rotten skin, yes, she has to return to Nikolai's house on Monday, so it's three days. Nast NY nasty, I just can't. I don't understand how she is alone with no one around. here from the outside I just don't understand no, Ena, she is the daughter of one of the nurses, okay, and she said that everyone left the building and went to another building to have a staff meeting, so she is taking care of the facility.

They are Med and Ena is an accountant she is not a doctor how many how many children are there in the hallway while we were in the hospital Nikolai called with very bad news one of the bedridden children who shared the same room with Nastia at the Institute has died he was only 11 years his parents handed him over to the state so nikolai's job now is to bury him what diagnosis do they give at the hospital about the cause of death did he suffer from Hydro Calia hydrolia do you know it is SW swelling in the brain yes and that is the official diagnosis but it is a little strange because uh Orga for example the doctor told me that on Thursday they were able to play with him and this is not a child who looked like he was about to die, he was It is not really considered a search, it is normal in Ukraine for an institute to have their own cemetery, but it seems less normal that it is not just the elderly who are buried, that so many young children, while under the care of the state, are also buried.

More than 400 children from El Instituto what a shame, this year three children died, he was born on December 7, 2000 and just on Thursday just a few days ago they played with him and one of the nurses liked to play with him because he responded very well, but all the Nikolai says that his short life was spent around a bed b and outside and just a little outside, otherwise he lived and died in his bed, right? because he was bedridden and stayed there most of the time, yes, yes, Ukraine is very sad. isus 20° in the middle of winter Tatiana has arranged for us to meet Dennis, another disabled young man whom Tatiana is helping with the legal challenge of trying to get her status reviewed.

Dennis hopes that he will soon be categorized as normal and can be recognized by the courts as someone who can be held responsible for his actions Dennis has a terrible py and has been in and out of different institutes on the run several times and ended up living on the streets as a preference to life in a high school where Leon Dennis was sent. Novitzki Psychiatric Institute an investigation found that an inmate was beaten to death and the Institute is now under new management. The Institute insists that sedatives are no longer used as punishment, that there are no more forced labor or deaths as a result of the misuse of sedatives, they say.

There is no physical punishment and patients do not participate in burials, but human rights activists say there were many more unexplained deaths that have never been investigated. Tatiana has worked tirelessly to get Dennis and Boris into court to fight for their official freedom until now. Disabled status has imprisoned many young men and women in the system for life, but an inmate at an institution in eastern Ukraine just had the court remove her disabled label. This is the first time that an inmate of an institute has had this status revoked if Tatiana can realize this for Dennis and Boris it will be an extraordinary ACH to Dennis was one of the ones she rescued from a nursing home so we should to spe The roads to Nikolai's institution are dangerous in the winter, a trip that took 1 hour in the summer now takes six.

Winter brings great problems to Nikolai, as it is difficult for him to leave the Institute and reach the main road to provide the hospitalized children with their supplies of food, diapers and medicines. makes Dr. Olga's job even more difficult Margarita is very bad she goes to the district hospital unpleasant and Margarita unpleasant has also left yes and says you know she is in very bad condition Nikolai arrived with more bad news Nadia has been suffering a lot of discomfort with his head cyst, but Nikolai has good news to share with us. Sasha is being adopted by a family from abroad.

She is the first child adopted from this institute. They are beginning plans for a second group home so that Ktia and Lissa can also benefit, but it all comes down to finding enough money to not only set it up but to maintain it for years. It took Nikolai 3 years to raise funds for the boy's house. He is interested in showing us how children get along. It's quite extraordinary to witness his progress for the first time. These children attend daily classes and learn skills that will hopefully one day help them live independently. It is worrying that all of this may be for nothing if they end up in adult institutes like those described by Leona Boris and Dennis as for disabled orphans, unless institutes like Nikolai's have adequate medical staff and facilities, then it seems that the most weak of Ukraine We continued in and out of the hospital before resting in the Institute's cemeteries.

Nikolai received a home movie of Sasha from her new parents abroad and we had shown it to the staff earlier, but just as we were getting ready to leave three more caregivers approached. he asked us if they could also watch Sasha's movie since we had a copy on our laptop. h Sasha is the lucky person, now she has her own family and has the opportunity to have a full life. The condition was getting worse, is it okay? Is it okay outside?