U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Tefft has praised the work of Ukrainian central and local government officials on the social protection of children via the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Families for Children Program.
"I would like to praise the Family, Youth and Sports Ministry, the central and local government officials, who were involved in this [Families for Children] program. I would like to praise [their] desire and commitment to improve the welfare of the Ukrainian children," Tefft said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
He noted that currently in Ukraine there exist the mechanisms and experience for further carrying out reforms in the sphere of the social protection of children.
Deputy Family, Youth and Sports Minister of Ukraine, Liudmyla Volynets, in turn, noted that after the program had been launched, thousands of children were adopted. Currently, according to her, the number of such children reaches 8,500.
The deputy minister also said that during the realization of the program, the Ukrainian parliament passed 98 regulatory and legal acts in the sphere of the protection of children’s’ rights.
