Foster families: what salaries do caregivers and assistants receive.

The State Service of Ukraine collaborates with the State Employment Center

The State Service of Ukraine for Children collaborates with the State Employment Center on matters of searching and initial selection of candidates for foster caregivers and their assistants.

'Fostering a child during the period when their parents are overcoming difficult life circumstances or searching for another family for the child is a very important service in communities, which, without exaggeration, saves children from orphanages,' emphasized the head of the Service, Petro Dobromilsky.

According to him, when parents find themselves in a difficult situation and temporarily cannot fulfill their duties, the child is taken in by a foster family. And even if returning to the biological family is impossible, children, thanks to the foster caregiver's family, continue to grow in a family environment, remaining close to relatives and friends while waiting for adoptive parents, a foster family, or a family-type children's home.

'Since fostering is a service, foster caregivers and their assistants receive official payments from the state budget. The monthly reward for a foster caregiver is 24,000 UAH; for an assistant, it is 8,000 UAH. Additionally, social assistance is paid for each placed child: up to 6 years old - 6,407.50 UAH (for children with disabilities - 8,970.50 UAH); from 6 to 18 years old - 7,990 UAH (for children with disabilities - 11,186 UAH),' reported the head of the agency.

As of the end of February, there were 465 foster families operating in Ukraine, accommodating 957 children. The service has been implemented in 288 territorial communities.