Five families, traditional and foster, took part in a four-day retreat organized by the My Home Foundation team. The program gave parents an opportunity to step away from their daily responsibilities, strengthen their relationships, restore their inner resources, and simply spend time together.

Foster parents give children their love, patience, and strength every day. Yet even the strongest families need rest, encouragement, and support. That is why the My Home Foundation organized a four-day retreat for five families from the Kherson region.

Over the course of four days, participants followed a program designed to support their spiritual, emotional, and relational renewal. Each day began with shared prayer and continued with workshops for married couples focused on communication, trust, conflict resolution, burnout prevention, and building healthier relationships.

The retreat included not only training sessions but also team-building activities, quests, art therapy, walks, swimming, excursions, a dance workshop, a romantic evening for couples, and time for private conversations away from everyday responsibilities.

The participants also visited the Geographical Center of Ukraine, a symbolic place often called the heart of the country.

“For the first time in many years, we had a chance to rest as a couple”

The retreat was especially meaningful for Petro and Olha Myshun. They began working with the My Home Foundation this year, but they already have many years of experience caring for children. They are currently raising three children and have welcomed more than 20 children into their family over the years.

Olha says that almost every trip and vacation they had taken before included their children. The opportunity to spend several days together as a couple was something entirely new.

“We have always traveled and rested with our children. Wherever we went, we went together as a family. This was the first time we had an opportunity to spend several days as a couple. It was a true reset for us,” she says.

According to the couple, the greatest value came not only from the time to rest but also from the sessions devoted to marriage, emotional exhaustion, and restoring inner strength.

“We learned a great deal about how to continue caring for children when you already feel burned out and where to find the strength to keep going. We encourage other foster families not to turn down opportunities like this. We also need to recharge our batteries so that we have enough love, patience, and strength for the children.”

“We had been missing gatherings like this”

For Serhii and Iryna Shvora, the retreat marked a return to a tradition that had been interrupted by the full-scale war.

Their family has been connected with the My Home Foundation since 2017 and participated in family support and renewal programs several times before the full-scale invasion. This was the first retreat of its kind organized during the war.

Iryna says that when the couple first saw the invitation, she could hardly believe they would be able to attend.

“We had only recently welcomed more children and were still settling into a new routine. At first, it seemed impossible for us to leave. But people stepped in to help, and our older children encouraged us to go. We came with joy and with the hope of taking a breath, recharging, and returning home with new strength.”

She says programs like this remind foster parents that they do not have to face every challenge alone.

“We are grateful to everyone who helped make this retreat possible—to those who worked with us directly and to those who supported the program behind the scenes. Thanks to the My Home Foundation, many children have found families, gained a future, and received the opportunity to live full and meaningful lives.”

Supporting parents means supporting children

The My Home Foundation team believes that supporting children is impossible without also caring for the adults who raise them every day.

The retreat was designed to help couples reduce accumulated stress, restore emotional closeness, learn to listen to one another again, create new agreements within their families, and return home with a renewed sense of unity and strength.

Because when parents have the emotional resources they need, they can continue giving every child the love, patience, stability, and care they deserve.