The Big Sister Program in Ukraine was launched by Maryna Vashchenko in 2007, who got inspired by the dedicated work that her mentor, Dr. Laurie Miller, did in Russia. Maryna extended the idea by introducing an emphasis on attachment to the program model. The attachment theory states that having sensitive and consistent caregivers as a young child ensures positive development. Institutional models of care fail to provide this fundamental feature of childhood because caregivers in those circumstances change frequently and abruptly, which impedes development of basic attachment relationships and sometimes results in different attachment patterns, including attachment “disturbances” and “atypical” attachment behaviors. The Big Sister project is trying to change this situation by facilitating long-term positive relationships of the children with the sisters.

This community project brings young women from local universities to spend an hour a day with a child every day for a period of 9 months. Read more…

With a grant from the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Public Citizenship, the program sponsored 6 children in 2007-08. The results of the first year are truly transformative. Children who participated in the program began to smile, initiate play with adults and form relationships with other children. While at the beginning of the program all children were “silent” (a common delay in language development observed in institutionalized children), their vocabulary blossomed within the next couple of months. Three children were adopted following the program, which makes us especially proud to have contributed to a smoother transition of the children into their loving families.

Since then our team has been working to raise enough money to sustain the program and give more children a big sister.