Shade for Children's "Family-to-Family" Mentoring

Shade for Children's Family-to-Family Mentoring Project was in the development stage prior to the outbreak of the war.

Last year our local social services agency identified at least  39 families as "Families-in-Crisis" within city limits whose children were at high risk of ending up in an orphanage either voluntarily or by court order. 

As many as 92% of children in Ukrainian orphanages have one or more parents and are institutionalized due to economic reasons or because of abuse or neglect.

At the request of Uzhhorod Social Services, Shade for Children began developing "Family to Family Mentoring", to match qualified Mentor Families with Families-in-Crises. The Beneficiary Families agree to receive monthly visits from their Mentor Families. The Mentor Families visit Beneficiary Families to encourage, coach, monitor (on behalf of social services), and provide other assistance as needed (and appropriate without fostering dependency)

An added dimension of YOU, a Sponsor Family, completes the triad. As a Sponsor Family, you will partner with the Mentor Family (providing financial resources and encouragement), as the Mentor Family acts as your hands and feet to strengthen Families-in-Crisis in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, and play an important role in preventing children from ending up in an orphanage. Children belong with family, not in institutions.  

Mentor Families will receive Social Services approved training so they can effectively encourage, coach, and monitor the Beneficiary Families and will provide Shade for Children with monthly written reports of their interactions. Shade for Children will provide YOU, the Sponsor Family, with quarterly reports about both your sponsored Mentor Family and the Beneficiary Family. YOU will have an opportunity (monitored of course) to interact with both families through personal correspondence (email, cards, etc). They will not be able to contact you directly without your permission.

Sponsorship costs $60 per family per month. Shade for Children will receive $5 for administrative expenses, and $15 will go into a contingency fund (for example, if a family needs an emergency home repair or some other urgent need). The remaining $40 per family per month will provide a modest gift of staple products (flour, oil, cleaning supplies) supplemented by donations secured through local partners. Sponsorship levels vary from Full Sponsorship ($60/month) and Partial Sponsorship ($30/month) to smaller amounts that will build the Contingency Fund.

Simply distributing a box of monthly humanitarian aid is NOT the goal of Family to Family Mentoring. The more important goals are building relationships that allow the Mentors to understand the real needs of the Beneficiaries so their family is strengthened and children don't end up in orphanages.

Shade for Children is a US 501(c)3 tax-exempt charity and is also a registered Ukrainian Charity Fund. All donations are tax-deductible.

Shade for Children directors in Ukraine are Clinton White, who holds a Master of Divinity degree, an MBA in Nonprofit Management and Social Entrepreneurism, and a graduate certificate in Social Work. Lena White earned degrees in Finance, and in Theology.

Family-to-Family Mentoring was set to launch in 2022 with six families and adding 12 more families throughout 2022, eventually growing to serve the initial 39 families in 2023.

War has changed our timetable. On the one hand, the need is greater than ever, but on the other hand, we are hampered by the fact that some of our "Mentor Families" have either already left the country or their fathers/husbands have been called to military duty and those families are in not position to serve as a Mentor Family at this time.

Shade for Children is already serving several struggling families during the current crises. This will be the beginning of Family-to-Family Mentoring. This projected budget covers 10 families through the end of 2022. We will revise the budget as we are able to add Mentor Families and Sponsor Families.