20/08/2024
Another story with a happy ending..😊
Saved from abuse and neglect..
Several months ago I have received a call from a young lady Olga. She was desperate because she could not find a lawyer, specializing in child defense. After visiting a few lawyers and paying quite a lot, she still did not know what to do in her situation. She told me her brother is divorced and has a daughter Maria, who stays with her mother. One night Olga received a call from abroad and it was her niece Maria crying and begging to get her out. She and her mother were staying in Germany at the house of a special needs gentleman. She told Olga that in order to stay in this house Maria was supposed to be “kind” with this gentleman and accept his affection. He often tried to grab her by arms or chest and him being in a wheel chair was the only thing that allowed the girl to escape this abuse. Daily. If Maria refused to be “kind” the family would have to leave the house.
The mother thought there was nothing bad in such behavior of the host and such behavior continued. Things got out of control and neighbors called the police. Police recorded complaint of the child and abusive behavior of the man.
When the mother went back to Ukraine for a brief visit, Olga and her sisters took the girl away from the mother, right from the bus and brought her to Olga’s home. But this was just the beginning of troubles. The niece appeared to be very much behind in school. She had attachment problems and even a PTSD from severe child abuse. She was clinging to Olga during the day not allowing to go to work or take care of other children in the family. The father of the girl was not a good father. Olga admitted to that. Her brother could be a much better dad, this was the reason the family gor divorced, but he could not stand aside when his daughter is taken abroad without any notice and is being abused. He was ready for a drastic change in his life in order to help his daughter.
Another problem -the mother started to write complaints that her child was kidnapped.
This is the time when I was contacted by Olga. Tired of all sorts of controversial information she did not know what to do. She was afraid she will need to pay much but she said the whole family will somehow gather the funds to pay for my services. She was very much surptised to find out that a case like this could potentially be decided without any legal court proceedings and that our charity will be happy to help her guide through each step pro bono. This is what we did. Bit by bit filling out the paperwork and following the instructions, the family has overcome the majority of legal issues. But we faced another problem-the mother filed a petition to court to place the child under her care. The girl had a panic attack. She thought she will have to go back to live with her mother.
We won the case and the girl is safe. It is a huge burden for a family of Olga, who has her own child of almost the same age. There is a long way they still need to go, as they have to take care of additional child, a brother, who is still on the way to become a decent father, and a family of her own.
It is so nice to see that Olga and the extended family all united in order to help the child. They believed the girl and decided to act. They will be raising the gild to become a healthy individual and to have a good future. To have a future.
Working with underprivileged children for over 20 years, I can state that our child protecting system is broken. Children’s services consist of officers – not lawyers, whose knowledge is limited to the internal protocol documents. It was the reason for founding our non-government organization “Child Advocacy Ukraine – CAU” .
If you know a child or a family, who is in trouble or have no funds for legal help, let them know of our organization. We exist to help ☺️
