50 pupils of the Kramatorsk Center for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children were evacuated to the Swiss Confederation. This is the second group of orphans, children deprived of parental care and children in difficult life circumstances who are evacuated to this country at the initiative of the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska and at the invitation of the Administration of the canton of Bern in Switzerland..
Children aged 4 to 16 and their educators first went to Ivano-Frankivsk, then to Budapest. There they were met with equipped buses by pediatricians and social workers from Switzerland.
Children will be accommodated in the canton of Bern. For them, the local representatives will organize the study of the German language, common in this region of the country, provide rehabilitation and education in local schools.
"Every year in their native Kramatorsk, these children have been finding new families who love them. Just before the war, one of the little pupils found a new family. But they did not have time to take her away - the adoption procedure was suspended for the duration of the hostilities. But we promise her that she will meet with her chosen parents immediately after our victory. Meanwhile, this girl and other children will fall asleep and wake up without sirens and alarms in the Swiss Alps," said Olena Zelenska.
Prior to that, 25 children from the Kamyanka Specialized Orphanage have already settled in Switzerland.
The evacuation program is implemented thanks to the Embassy of Ukraine in Switzerland, the National Social Service of Ukraine, regional military administrations, the Swiss Migration Office (Staatssekretariat für Migration, SEM), the administrations of the cantons of Vaud and Bern.
It is expected that the evacuation of children from Ukrainian orphanages to safe countries will continue in the near future.