All news
20.11.2025
Partnerships

Voices of Children and Poltava City Council Join Forces to Support Children

The Voices of Children Foundation and the Poltava City Council have signed a memorandum of cooperation. The document formally establishes a partnership between the Foundation and the city in the areas of child rights protection and psychological support for families affected by the war.
The memorandum was initiated by the Acting Mayor of Poltava, Kateryna Yamshchykova, and we are sincerely grateful for her leadership in this process. It was her clear understanding of the critical importance of psychological support for children in times of war that made this partnership possible.

Anxiety, fears, sleep disturbances, and difficulties with concentration are symptoms we encounter daily in our work with families. That is why the partnership includes several key areas of cooperation:
  • First, providing individual and group psychological support to children who have experienced war-related trauma.
  • Second, preventing violence and bullying through educational activities in schools and local communities.
  • Third, strengthening the professional capacity of educators, social workers, and child protection specialists who work closely with children and are often the first to notice emerging difficulties.
  • The Foundation and the City Council will also jointly develop and distribute materials to help families better understand and respond to children’s needs during this challenging period.

In addition, the Foundation and the City Council have agreed to share data on the situation in the community, children’s needs, and the outcomes of implemented activities. We plan to launch age-specific psychological support groups for children, conduct training sessions for educators and social workers, and organize cultural and artistic activities as part of psychosocial rehabilitation.
Voices of Children and Poltava City Council Join Forces to Support Children — Image  1
Voices of Children and Poltava City Council Join Forces to Support Children — Image  2
We believe that systematic work with children and their families delivers real results, especially when it is supported at the municipal level. Poltava is becoming another region where children can access professional psychological support more quickly and more easily.

If needed, anyone can reach out to our free psychological support helpline for children and parents: 0 800 210 106 (free of charge within Ukraine, operating hours: 9 a.m.–8 p.m.).
Share:
Facebook LinkedIn Twitter (X) Copy link
Latest news
August at Voices of Children: Youth Retreat, Celebrity Visits, and the End of the Camp Season

August was a really eventful month at the Foundation, even as Russian attacks across Ukraine intensified and children and their families spent many nights in shelters. Sessions continued at our regional centers, along with outreach visits to communities. For the first time, alumni of all our art residencies came together in the Carpathians, while Liev Schreiber and Katheryn Winnick visited our Kyiv center. Well-known Ukrainians read poems by our teenagers, the “Thread” photo exhibition set off on a tour through Ukrposhta branches, the summer camp season came to an end, and together with the band Hyphen Dash, we completed a fundraiser for psychological support. Here is a closer look at each of these events.

“Hold Fast to Life”: Actress Katheryn Winnick Meets Ukrainian Children Affected by the Russian War in Kyiv
Canadian actress and director of Ukrainian descent, best known for her roles as Lagertha in Vikings and Hannah Burley in Bones, came to Kyiv ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day. While here, she visited our center and met children, including those who had lived through Russian occupation and those forced to leave their homes because of the war. The night before the visit was a difficult one: air raid sirens woke the team in the middle of the night. Katheryn recalled that her “heart rate was pounding, coming out of her chest.” 
For the First Time Ever: Voices of Children Brings Together Alumni of All Its Arts Residencies
For six days in August, a bar appeared in the Carpathians where you paid for tea not with money, but with leaves from the trees. Nearby, teenagers flew kites against the mountain backdrop, while every evening brought live music. This was the Youth Retreat — a major gathering that brought together alumni of the Voices of Children Foundation’s arts labs from across Ukraine. Each of these teenagers had previously taken part in one of our creative residencies. This time, for the first time, they all came together in one place.