Photo:dcim.livejournal.com
Lena is just 21. Her eldest daughter, now living with a foster family, is almost three years old. Her younger daughter is nine months old. Next year she is expecting another child. They all live in a semi-ruined house with very basic amenities. Lena is diligent and has a good attitude: she always fulfils the tasks set by a social worker from the district Social Services Centre for Family, Children and Youth who is assigned to her family. She isn’t an alcoholic, she is not a thief or a drug addict either. She and her husband are prepared to do any work, it’s just there isn’t much available right now with it being winter…
Lena has no passport, she’s never had one, in fact. During the crazy 90s her mother left home and went off to look for a better life elsewhere. Not sure if she’s found it but she hasn’t acquired any assets and lost all her IDs. Lena is her eldest daughter, she’s now trying to bring up her own family, and her youngest is in a children’s home. Lena is also up for moving around in search of a better life: you never know, happiness may be just around the corner. She doesn’t know any different: this is how she spent her childhood, she’s used to such lifestyle.
Everything would be ok if it wasn’t for the documents: the family is unable to get a birth certificate issued for their child. This can’t be done without a passport. The authorities say “What if she’s not a citizen of Ukraine?” Lena can’t apply for a passport either, since her own documents were lost in her early years, her identity is yet to be established. In order to do that, her parents’ IDs must be produced. But her mother lost her passport many years ago, and her father, who had nothing to do with her upbringing, still has a Soviet passport. None of them have enough money to rectify the situation. Lena’s father promised to sort out his passport himself, but he never got round to doing it. The costs of passport applications for Lena and her mother were covered by our Foundation, this isn’t a lot of money we’re talking about but the local budget has no funds set aside for this: social workers provide emotional and organisational support to families in desperate need of help but the families must cover the passport application fees themselves.
Once I became aware of Lena’s story, my opinion of this young lady has changed. And you know what? My biggest worry is that children’s rights are being infringed due to adherence to the laws, this doesn’t make much sense. See for yourself: 9-month-old baby has no ID even though any child born in Ukraine has the right to the Ukrainian citizenship. If a baby fails to get a birth certificate before the age of one, (s)he won’t be entitled to child support. Lena has only recently come of age herself. Until then she had no ID, and no one was concerned by that. It seems to me if Lena’s family doesn’t secure the documents, her children will sooner or later become ‘social orphans’ whilst their parents are still alive and well, and they will be forced to live in children’s homes.