On this page you can find our Annual Reports and highlights of our impact, as well as information about which children we help in Ukraine and Malawi. For over 25 years we have worked to meet the needs of orphans and vulnerable children and to see them grow up to succeed in life. We focus our efforts in Ukraine and Malawi, achieving sustainable change.
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We are proud of the difference we have made and the incredible people who have helped us to do it, and are happy to share our Annual Reports with you. We use the Social Reporting Standard to present the results of the work we have performed and to give in-depth insights into our organisation.
This year Care in Action reached into new locations, supporting 2,507 children and 366 carers in Ukraine. We combined immediate support with building hope for the future. And in Malawi, 46 youth were sponsored in higher education and 155 children were helped through education projects. The report for 2025 offers insights into our work, our projects, and our impact.
Link to 2025 Annual Report (German) Link to 2025 Annual Report Summary (English)
Care in Action provided holistic help to 1,426 children and 302 parents and carers in Ukraine, and supported education for 388 children and youth in Malawi. As a result, young adults entered new professions, foster carers gained valuable skills, and four communities launched services for children – all despite the hardships of poverty and war.
Link to 2024 Annual Report (English) Link to Annual Report Summary (German)
Protecting children's education and mental health during wartime Ukraine was our key priority. We helped all displaced families in our shelters transition to longer-term housing, after giving over 38,546 beds for the night from March 2022 to July 2023. In Malawi we supported education and also gave aid after the terrible Cyclone Freddy.
Link to 2023 Annual Report (English) Link to 2023 Report Summary (German)
We responded quickly when Russia invaded Ukraine, offering shelter to families who lost their homes and protecting children in our programmes. A growth in donations helped us to expand our team and services and bring real relief from trauma as well as aid to help children and families cope with the terrible effects of war.
Link to 2022 Annual Report (English) Link to 2022 Report Summary (German)
In 2021 we built momentum to support more foster families in half of the regions of Ukraine, while still taking action on a personal level to make children’s lives better. In Malawi we doubled the project budget for community development to provide major construction works and capacity building. Investment in Sponsorship increased by 50% so even more children and young people had help for their wellbeing and education.
Link to 2021 Annual Report (English) Link to 2021 Report Summary (German)
People in Ukraine and Malawi relied on us through the Covid crisis of 2020 to continue providing the help they needed. Children’s education was supported, foster families received advice and training on a national level in Ukraine, and we distributed food to ensure that families, and children who usually live in state care, didn’t go hungry.
Link to 2020 Annual Report (English) Link to 2020 Report Summary (German)
In 2019 our programmes actively helped children and carers. Significant developments included producing a Ukrainian training course for the “Providing a Secure Base” model of care, with trainers certified and supervised to deliver training in 14 regions of Ukraine. Werner Lehnis retired after 21 years as Director and Co-Founder of Care in Action.
Link to 2019 Annual Report (English)
Children’s talents were developed with our Job Orientation for teenagers, Talent in Action festival and Family Camps for foster families. We enabled care leavers to add their voice to the de-institutionalisation debate, through making presentations to public officials on the social isolation they experienced. Dr Mary Beek, co-author of the “Providing a Secure Base” model of care, came from the University of East Anglia to train child care specialists from 5 regions of Ukraine.
People like you are helping us to better the lives and opportunities of children in care. Find out more about how this helps children thrive...
At the heart of our mission are children who are among the most vulnerable in society. These are children without parental care, or vulnerable because of poverty or social needs, and young people who lack support for their transition to independence.
We recognise the special needs of children who grow up in care institutions, in foster care or with guardians such as grandmothers. Foster Parents care for children who have experienced trauma and need support to provide therapeutic parenting.
- Nearly 1.5% of all children in Ukraine live without the love or protection of a family in some form of residential institution. Of these, only 1 in 10 will successfully integrate into society. (Statistics published by Hope and Homes for Children)
- Only 25% of care leavers (orphanage graduates) have stable employment
This can be due to poverty, social factors like parental neglect, or a crisis, which also puts them at greater risk of going into institutional care. Because of the war in Ukraine there are increasing numbers of children who are experiencing trauma, disruption to their education and growing up in poverty.
- 92% of children in state care have parents who can’t provide care because of poverty or social problems.
- “The war in Ukraine is robbing children of stability, safety, school, friends, family, a home and hopes for the future. The mental wounds of the war could affect children well into adulthood.” UNICEF
There is a need to help children and young adults ages 15 to 25 who have problems with supporting themselves and integrating into society, which could be because they don’t have support from their parents or were raised in state care.
Human trafficking in Ukraine is a serious and overwhelming issue. Ukraine is one of the most prominent countries in Europe for human trafficking with over 260,000 Ukrainian trafficking victims over the last 30 years. – The Borgen Project
In partnership with community based organisations we select children who are expelled from secondary school due to poverty but who have the academic ability and determination to continue their studies with our sponsorship. We mitigate the effects of malnutrition and lack of education through funding Early Child Development (ages 2 to 6) and Learning Support (ages 7 to 12).
Malawi is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. AIDS has left many children orphaned, exposed to malnutrition and in extreme poverty. Only 35% of children will enrol in secondary school (UNESCO).
Our goal is to enable children to grow up to succeed in life. Holistic education, which is much more than schooling, is a key to making a sustainable difference, and is our priority. When children and young people need the basics of food, shelter and safety to enable their education, or their transition to self-reliance, we aim to ensure that those needs are met. Our approach helps to reduce trauma and break the cycle of poverty.
We train and support carers, foster parents and social workers, so the children they open their homes and hearts to are provided the supportive relationships and environment they need to flourish. Here we show the difference we can make when carers have expert advice and support for stronger families.
People like you help us to see children who were previously disadvantaged grow up to have quality education, find decent work, and connect with a positive circle of friends and family. If you want to help, you can contact us or donate today. Thank you!
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