The magazine ZDF “frontal” reported that SOS Children’s Villages was involved in the abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia. The international aid organization has now firmly rejected this. In fact, Ukrainian children are in Russia, but for different reasons.
Austrian SOS Children’s Village spokesperson Jakob Kramar-Schmid told APA that in November 2022 he first heard of 13 children in Russia whose origins were unclear. The Russian authorities had asked the employees of the institution to take care of the children. “We face the dilemma of not helping children in need who would otherwise be left on the streets or helping children in need,” said Kramar-Schmid. “The colleagues in Russia are doing an incredible job and are under great political pressure.”
‘Not easy to get the kids out’
The children involved are probably Ukrainians. Even if “we assume we can find the parents of the children in Ukraine, it is not so easy to get the children out of Russia,” Kramar-Schmid said. The employees would like to take the children back to their country of origin, but the circumstances did not allow this at the moment.
It is usually part of the work of the aid organization that the minors have contact with their parents. The majority live in “professional foster homes, a kind of shared flat” because the families of origin are too poor. These foster families are housed in the SOS Children’s Village, but the caretakers are selected and employed by the Russian state. According to Kramar-Schmid, children living in such an institution are not put up for adoption.
Against use for political purposes
In total, the aid organization cares for more than 600 children in Russia. On Tuesday, a ZDF report showed “how Russian foster parents with Ukrainian children are driven to a red-brick house”.
The aid agency wrote “frontally” after the report: “SOS Children’s Villages Russia cannot provide information on how the children came to Russia and how they obtained Russian citizenship. SOS Children’s Villages is against the use of children for political purposes. We stand. not behind this and will investigate this matter.”
Source: Krone
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