EU report calls for expansion of family care for children in Ukraine
The number of children in residential care in Ukraine remains high despite steady progress in implementing deinstitutionalisation reform. It is necessary to expand alternative forms of care in a family environment, according to the 2026 EU enlargement report, which the European Commission published on 4 November 2026.
The legal and institutional framework for children’s rights in Ukraine has generally been established, but its implementation and compliance need to be improved, the European Commission noted. Among other things, the state has demonstrated steady progress in implementing the reform of the residential care system, prioritising every child’s right to grow up in a family environment.
Since 2023, the number of children in institutional care facilities has decreased but remains high (23,524 children in 2025), particularly among children with disabilities.
“More targeted efforts to expand specialised family-based care are needed,” the report emphasised.
The European Commission noted that most local government bodies still lack the resources and capacity to provide quality social services at the community level, support for specialists or the development of alternative forms of care.
Progress in deinstitutionalisation reform in Ukraine is limited, according to a new shadow report prepared by a coalition of non-governmental organisations including the Human Rights Centre ZMINA. The report examines Ukraine’s implementation of European Commission recommendations within the “Fundamentals of EU Accession” cluster. It says institutions are closing faster than alternative forms of care for children are being developed, while the number of foster families is decreasing.
In 2024, the Strategy for Ensuring the Right of Every Child in Ukraine to Grow Up in a Family Environment for 2024–2028 was adopted. This document envisages that by 2028, 95% of orphans and children deprived of parental care will be raised in families, and the number of children in residential institutions will decrease by 30%. Deinstitutionalisation reform is one of Ukraine’s obligations for EU accession.
Foster families and family-type children’s homes in Ukraine face a number of problems, ranging from financial difficulties to a lack of social support in “hromadas”, local government areas that each include one or more nearby settlements. The Ukrainian Child Rights Network has developed solutions to support family-based care and submitted them to Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.
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