On November 24 Rinat Akhmetov Foundation held a meeting for foster families (FF) and family-type orphanages (FTO) from Donbas, living on the territory of Kyiv, Kyiv region and other regions of Ukraine.
"Rinat Akhmetov Foundation holds regular meetings that are often called 'parent-teacher meetings' by their participants. Requests for trainings and experience exchange are coming from foster families and family-type orphanages. We attract the best experts and trainers, who have been working in adoption for a long time. Such meetings are conducted to prevent emotional burnout of parents and for them to gain new knowledge in building relations with foster children", ‒ Yevheniia Rzaieva, the Head of "Say No To Orphanhood!" program at Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, shared.
The third parent-teacher meeting was dedicated to studying at school and interaction. The leading expert of Kyiv centre for social services, a psychologist Liubov Loriashvili, told about the stages of child development, strong-willed qualities of kids, difficulties faced by children in the learning process and how to overcome them.
"Foster children face many problems at school age. Parents and teachers have certain expectations about child's potential. Parents have steep demands. And teachers often refuse to cooperate with children whose behaviour is different from the others. Children from foster families and family-type orphanages can be more vulnerable, hesitant, or vice versa, can show their aggression and hyperactivity as a result of experienced traumatic events", ‒ Liubov Loriashvili explains.
During the training they discussed development stages of children, things they can do in different age, possible delays and how to compensate them. The Foundation's expert told what motivates a child in the learning process, why a child does not want to learn, whether it is laziness or fear. And how to help children to overcome problems with studies.
According to Loriashvili, these meetings are very important. "Foster families realize that they are not alone. Here they meet other parents, who are going through the same situation. They share their experience. They have an opportunity to speak their mind freely", ‒ the expert believes.
During the meeting the Foundation's expert answered a lot of questions from parents, who wanted to understand, whether their child studies really that bad, why the child's behaviour is not always perfect and why the excessive anxiety of parents is often unnecessary.
"We've been friends with Rinat Akhmetov Foundation for a long time. It's always a pleasure for us to attend events organized by the Foundation. These meetings make a good psychological support for parents. It is important to hear from others that you are acting right. These meetings help to understand children better and look at the situation from a different angle. Today we are leaving the meeting with new experience", ‒ Liudmyla Panchokha, the head of FTO, shared after the event.
Video materials from the training will be shortly available on "Say No To Orphanhood!" portal.
