Interdenominational Summit on Protection of Orphans Held in Kyiv

On February 6-7, an interdenominational Eastern European summit “Defending the Orphans - Changing the Future” was held in the conference center of the President Hotel in Kyiv.

The event is organized by the Ukraine Without Orphans Alliance and the Committee for Social Ministry of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations. It is aimed primarily to unite the efforts of the church for the effective response to the challenges of social and spiritual orphanhoon, as well as to develop a dialogue with the state in order to work together on popularizing the culture of adoption and on guaranteeing juvenile justice.

On the first day of the summit, the heads and representatives of Ukrainian Churches shared ideas about care for orphans and the role of the church in the transformation of the society where respect for children and disabled children is to be developed. This attitude is viewed as a kind of an indicator of our humaneness.

In addition, panel discussions were held on such subjects as “The Church Transforming the Society,” “Vocation in the Life of a Child” and a plenary session “The Child in Us.” Reports were made by Rustam Fatulaiev of the Protestant church Skynia, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest, Andrii Nahirniak and Oleksandr Shevchenko of the Protestant church House of Bread (USA).