“Dear friends, we challenge you. You have the ability to rescue children from lives as orphans. You can literally save a child from orphanhood. It’s not up to others, it’s up to us. God will help us in this journey. Please do not be indifferent to the needs of orphans. Help provide loving parental care that will change a former orphan’s life forever!”. – Shkrebeta family, loving parents for orphans.
Millions of innocent Ukrainian children were victimized by atrocities committed by Russian forces against the Ukrainian people. Some children lost their homes, many lost loved ones, over 100 children were killed by Russian bullets and rockets, others were maimed for life, and some were slaughtered in the womb, not having the chance to take their first breath and get a name.

While the civilized world shelters Ukrainian women and children, providing housing and loving support, the Russian army used illegal weapons, destroyed kindergartens and schools, planted countless mines, and attacked schools and civilians.

An entire generation has already been traumatized by the war, and it will take many years to heal the wounds and allow Ukrainian children to enjoy full and happy lives, free from daily fear. A loving family is the most important factor in any child’s well being, both in times of peace and in times of war.

The family environment offers safety, protection, meaning and overall welfare. Children require family support to deal with problems, have their concerns neutralized, and receive unconditional parental love. Unfortunately, the unprovoked aggression by Russia in Ukraine, will drastically increase the number of children without families. The number of orphans has increased weekly, and My Home will be there to help them!

Consider the plight of two little Ukrainian brothers, Maksym and Viktor. Like all normal children, they simply wanted care and love from their parents in a good home. But those who were supposed to protect, teach and take care for them, have betrayed them three times. The first betrayal occurred when Maksym was two years old. His mother traded her son for entertainment, alcohol, and men. Social services were forced to remove the hungry, sick boy away from his neglectful mother and send him to the children’s home in Kherson. During his 18-month stay at the institution, his mother gave birth to a little brother, Viktor. She was blessed to be taken in by common law husband from an industrious and virtuous family. Her new in-laws got involved in efforts to return Maksym to the family. And it happened. The brothers reunited!

However, the mother had not really learned her lessons and returned to her former ways lacking in patience, endurance, and love. She turned her back on the boys again and ran away again, ending her common law marriage. For the second time in their young lives, Maksym and Viktor ended up in the Kakhovka orphanage. There were “good people” who chose to provide a foster home for the brothers. Because of their hard life, the boys were difficult to manage. They had conflicts with each other and with the biological children in the foster family. Gradually, the boys adapted to the new rules and responsibilities.

Then, the war started on February 24, 2022. Kherson was almost immediately occupied by Russian soldiers. Many families were forced to leave their homes. Maksym and Viktor not only lost their foster home, but they lost their faith in adults. The caretakers had decided to bring Maksym and Viktor to Kherson Center for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation. They literally abandoned them at the entrance, and threw them under the gate like you would throw out kittens. For the third time, the brothers found themselves in an institution. To make matters much worse, rockets were flying nearby, and explosions and gunshots were heard regularly. It was scary, creepy, overwhelming!

In spite face of the daily violence and danger associated with war, My Home found amazing, loving parents, Oleksandr and Galina Shkrebeta in the city of Oleshky. The couple already adopted three children successfully, and were experienced adoptive parents. They also possessed an unusual amount of courage. Their original parents were cowardly and gave the boys away, but Oleksandr and Galina welcome these two little “hedgehogs”, as they affectionately referred to them, with Christ-like care and love.

During the tense period of Russian occupation, the Shkrebeta family experienced great horror. An enemy rocket hit their house, and the resulting fire destroyed all the property. The barefoot children and their parents ran from the destroyed home through broken glass and twisted metal. But the Lord’s hand protected them. Everyone escaped the intentional bombing alive. Following that traumatic event, a long, dangerous journey to evacuate the Kherson region ensued.

The Shkrebeta family was warmly welcomed in the city of Krasnograd in the Kharkiv region. A Christian church took care of the family. Finally, the children’s status has been legally changed. Viktor and Maksym are officially members of the large, godly, Shkrebeta family. How much strength, endurance, and parental wisdom from the Lord that Oleksandr and Galina displayed to make sure the children no longer look maliciously at this world based on their traumatic experiences. Instead, they are able to face life with trust, and believe that we, the adults, will always take care of them, protect and love them unconditionally.