Specialist training to support foster parents across Ukraine

Childcare specialists from across Ukraine discovered the Secure Base model of care at a two day Care in Action workshop, with research professor Dr. Mary Beek from the University of East Anglia (UEA) leading the training.

Dr. Beek trained caregiving leaders on how to implement best practice childcare using the Secure Base model which was developed by Professor Gillian Schofield and Dr. Beek at the Centre for Research on Children and Families at the UEA. Attendees came from all corners of Ukraine, with many travelling long distances from the regions of Lviv, Kyiv, Odessa, Transcarpathia, and Dnipropetrovsk.

Its key principles are to enhance the child’s sense of security and develop their self-confidence, competence, and resilience by optimising day to day interactions between caregiver and child.

Key leaders from a diverse range of state institutions, NGOs and associations, as well as foster parents and caregivers, benefitted from valuable training on how to manage relationships to help children achieve academic success and build positive relationships in their peer group and community.

Attendees were equipped with tools for implementing the Secure Base programme in all stages of childcare training and support, including:

• Supporting family-style children’s placements, assisting them in difficulties.
• Setting goals for children by caregivers or social workers in the context of each dimension of the Secure Base Model and monitoring progress.
• Assessing candidates as potential foster carers, foster parents, guardians and caregivers.
• Assessing the ability of caregivers to ensure the security of children and improve their resilience.

Participants included representatives from the Lviv Regional Center of Social Services for Families, the Commission on Family Affairs from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, NGOs such as the International Leadership and Development Center, and the Transcarpathia without Orphans Association.

The Secure Base program is widely recognised as one of the best care models and has been the focus of carers’ development training throughout many countries of Europe, Asia, and Australia. Our vision is to implement this model in Ukraine on a national level.

Care in Action would like to sincerely thank our staff and volunteers who managed the two day workshop, Dr. Beek who travelled so far to bring her expertise to Ukraine’s key caregivers, and our sponsors who continue to support our mission of improving the lives and opportunities of vulnerable children.