According to Relocation, it is important for Ukrainian families living in EU countries to be aware of local child protection regulations: social services may initiate an investigation into living conditions if they receive reports of a potential threat to a child, and in serious cases, may temporarily remove the child from the family until the circumstances are clarified or a court decision is made.
As reported by Ukrainian media, citing materials for families abroad, social services do not intervene automatically due to a single domestic conflict, a bruise from a fall, or being late for school. However, repeated reports, complaints from the school, or concerns raised by neighbors, doctors, or the police can serve as grounds for an investigation into the family.
In different countries, these services have different names: Jugendamt in Germany, Aide Sociale à l’Enfance in France, and child protection services in Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, and other countries. Their underlying logic is similar: the state is obligated to intervene if it believes a child may be in danger or that the child’s interests are being violated.
Reasons for an investigation may include suspicions of physical or psychological abuse, systematic neglect of the child’s needs, lack of medical care, leaving a young child unsupervised, inadequate living conditions, truancy, aggressive behavior by the child, family conflicts, or parental failure to fulfill their duties.
For Ukrainian families, differences in legal systems remain a particular risk. What might be perceived in Ukraine as a domestic conflict or a “parenting method” may be considered unacceptable behavior in EU countries. Physical punishment, shouting, threats, leaving children home alone, or lack of contact with the school can lead to intervention by social services.
According to the 2023 annual report of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, as of December 31, 2023, the competent authorities of host countries had removed 255 Ukrainian children from their parents or legal guardians abroad. Of these, 64 were orphans or children deprived of parental care, and 191 were children with parents.
The highest number of such cases was recorded in Germany—71 children—followed by Poland—33, Italy—25, the Czech Republic—24, and Sweden—17. Cases were also recorded in the Netherlands, France, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, Finland, Austria, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia, and other countries.
Among the most common reasons for the removal of Ukrainian children abroad, the Ukrainian ombudsman cited the failure of local authorities to recognize Ukrainian documents issued to guardians and adoptive parents, inadequate fulfillment of parental responsibilities, low levels of material and living standards, truancy, aggressive behavior by children, as well as the consequences of psychological trauma suffered by parents and children due to the war.
European statistics show that intervention by social services is a widespread and systematic practice, but reporting methods vary by country. In Germany in 2024, youth welfare authorities temporarily took approximately 69,500 children and adolescents into protective custody. Of these, 44% of such measures were related to the arrival of unaccompanied minors from abroad, 42% to an immediate threat to the child’s well-being, and 13% to children seeking help on their own.
In Poland, as of the end of 2024, 77,300 children were in the foster care system, of whom 59,800 were in family-based care and 17,500 were in institutional care. In Italy, as of the end of 2023, 42,000 children were in alternative care: 15,992 in foster care and 26,010 in residential care. In Sweden, according to Socialstyrelsen, 3,486 children were placed in compulsory care under the LVU Act in 2020.
These figures cannot be directly compared with one another as “removed children” because countries use different categories: temporary removal, foster care, institutional care, emergency protection, voluntary placement, compulsory placement, and care for unaccompanied minors. Nevertheless, they demonstrate the scale of the work carried out by European child protection systems.
There are no separate pan-European statistics available in an open, comparable format on how many children are removed specifically from families based on the parents’ “ethnic origin.” Some countries publish data on citizenship, migration status, ethnicity, or unaccompanied children, but these indicators vary in methodology and often do not allow for distinguishing family cases from migration and guardianship cases.
For Ukrainians, the most specific publicly available statistics are data from the Ukrainian Ombudsman’s Office on 255 children removed abroad as of the end of 2023. More recent comparable data for all EU countries is currently limited in open access.
Lawyers and human rights advocates advise Ukrainian parents abroad to carefully study the rules of their country of residence, not to ignore requests from schools, doctors, and social services, keep documents regarding the child’s legal representation, have translations of custody or adoption decisions, contact the Ukrainian consulate in a timely manner, and not attempt to “resolve” the conflict with child protection authorities on their own without legal assistance.
If social services initiate an investigation, it is important to cooperate, provide explanations, submit documents, engage an interpreter, and document all communications in writing. In most countries, the goal of initial intervention is not the automatic removal of the child, but rather a risk assessment and the search for a solution that will be considered safe for the child.
Men who have children, on average, perform better on certain cognitive tests and have a lower estimated brain age compared to childless men, according to a study published in *Scientific Reports*.
The study authors analyzed data from 303,196 participants in the UK Biobank of European descent who had no brain or nervous system diseases. The researchers compared results from tests of reaction time and visual memory, and separately examined MRI data from 13,584 individuals to assess what is known as relative brain age.
According to the study, having children was associated with faster reaction times and fewer errors on visual memory tests in both women and men. The most pronounced difference was observed in participants with two or three children compared to those without children.
For men with two children, the estimated brain age was on average 0.6 years younger than that of childless men, and for men with three children, it was 0.7 years younger. For women with two children, the brain appeared on average 0.5 years younger, and for those with three children, 0.7 years younger.
The researchers emphasize that this is an association, not a proven cause-and-effect relationship. In their assessment, the results may be influenced not only by parenting responsibilities themselves but also by lifestyle factors associated with having children: social activity, daily cognitive load, emotional support, routine, reduced alcohol or tobacco use, and other variables.
The authors also note that the effect did not increase linearly with the number of children. In men, the relationship was U-shaped: the most pronounced differences were observed among fathers of two or three children, whereas with more children, the effect was less clear-cut.
Additional research in this area suggests that caring for others may be associated with a younger brain age. Specifically, a study published in 2025 in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience showed a lower estimated brain age among grandmothers and caregivers of people with dementia compared to a control group.
Scientists see a possible explanation in the fact that caring for a child or another person requires constant shifting of attention, planning, memory, emotional control, and social interaction. Such a workload may serve as a kind of training for the brain, although further research is needed to confirm a causal effect.
Data from the Harvard Study of Adult Development also point to the importance of social connections for health and longevity.
The project’s researchers noted that people with warmer and more stable relationships live longer on average and maintain better health, while social isolation is associated with higher risks to physical and mental well-being.
Thus, parenthood may be one of the factors associated with a more active social and cognitive life. However, the researchers do not claim that having children in and of itself guarantees healthier brain aging. The study shows a statistical association that must be considered alongside lifestyle, health, stress levels, income, education, and the quality of social relationships.
The Ukrainian Red Cross (URC) has launched mine risk education sessions for children at summer camps.
“The first sessions have already taken place in the city of Samar in the Dnipropetrovsk region at a local high school, where Ukrainian Red Cross specialists, together with inspectors from the Educational Safety Service, held an interactive session for children at the summer camp,” the URC reported on Facebook on Monday.
During the session, participants learned how to identify potentially dangerous objects, studied safety protocols, practiced practical scenarios, and reinforced the golden rule: “Don’t approach, don’t touch, call 101 or 102.”
Throughout the summer, similar informational sessions will be held at summer camps and children’s centers across all regions of Ukraine.
The European Commission may present legislative proposals as early as summer 2026 to restrict minors’ access to social media. This was announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen while speaking at a democracy summit in Copenhagen.
According to Reuters, von der Leyen said that the European Commission is stepping up measures to protect children from the “addictive design” of digital platforms, including TikTok, Meta, Facebook, Instagram, and X. She linked excessive social media use by teenagers to risks related to sleep, mental health, anxiety, cyberbullying, and other threats to young people.
However, this does not involve an immediate shutdown of social media platforms or a temporary suspension of their services for all users. Primary sources mention a possible “social media delay” for children, meaning a delay or restriction on the age at which minors can independently use social media. Euronews reports that the European Commission may present plans for a Europe-wide ban or age restriction for children as early as this summer.
The European Commission has already established a special panel of experts on children’s online safety. According to official EC documents, by the summer of 2026, the panel’s co-chairs are to present von der Leyen with recommendations on protecting children online, including possible harmonized age restrictions for access to social media and other online services.
Digital age verification will be a separate element of the future policy. In April 2026, the European Commission held the second meeting of the special panel, dedicated to current rules for protecting minors online and EU initiatives in this area. Reuters also reported that the EU has already developed an age verification app designed to help restrict children’s access to inappropriate content and services.
The new proposals could become part of a broader EU digital policy, including the Digital Services Act and the future Digital Fairness Act. The EU is currently investigating major platforms regarding the protection of minors, advertising transparency, researchers’ access to data, and the use of mechanisms designed to capture users’ attention.
Why not all children can be removed from state custody
According to the State Service of Ukraine for Children’s Affairs, there were 59,350 orphans and children deprived of parental care in Ukraine as of the end of 2025. This is 4% fewer than in 2024. At the same time, 2,097 prospective adoptive parents are currently registered. On average, there are about 28 children per prospective adoptive parent; however, 1,150 children were placed with new families, and another 6,600 children were placed in foster care last year. The highest number of adoptions and, at the same time, the highest number of children in state care are in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
There were 59,350 orphans and children deprived of parental care in Ukraine as of the end of 2025. This is 4% fewer than in 2024. Overall, the number of such children decreases by an average of 3% each year.
One-third of all these children—20,705—are orphans, meaning those who have lost both parents. The other children are deprived of parental care for various reasons—and by no means all of them can be legally adopted.
“Of the 60,000 children in residential care facilities, only about 5,000 have the status that allows them to be adopted. The rest are so-called social orphans: they have parents or legal guardians, but for various reasons live in institutional facilities. Consequently, they cannot formally be adopted,” notes lawyer and adoptive parent Inna Miroshnychenko
The overall picture is that the number of people wanting to adopt a child is increasing year by year. However, 2025 was an exception: the number of applicants decreased by 13% over the year. In total, 2,097 prospective adoptive parents are currently registered in Ukraine. 77% of them, or 1,619 adoptive parents, are married couples. However, there are still 479 single individuals who wish to take on the responsibility of caring for a child.
Nearly half of all applicants are people between the ages of 40 and 50. Another 41% are under 40, and only 10% are over 50.
The largest number of candidates live in Kyiv (244) and the Kyiv region (224). There are also many adoptive parents in the Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk regions—191 and 182 candidates, respectively.
Despite this, the number of adoptions in 2025 decreased. Last year, 1,150 children found new families. This is 10% fewer than in 2024, when a record number of children were adopted since the start of the full-scale war—1,273 children.
“The adoption procedure itself is fairly clear, understandable, and not overly complicated in formal terms, but it takes a long time. Another major barrier is the territorial system for matching children: an applicant registers in their district and receives information only about children registered there. Previously, this problem was partially solved by the Ministry of Social Policy’s database, where one could view children who had not been placed locally; however, this tool is no longer operational, and as a result, applicants often simply cannot find ‘their’ child,” explains attorney and adoptive parent Inna Miroshnychenko.
The lawyer also notes that a significant portion of the children in the system are not single children but large family groups: three, five, sometimes even more brothers and sisters. They cannot be separated, whereas most prospective adoptive parents are willing to take in one child, at most two. Only a few are willing to take three or four at once.
“Many adoptive parents are looking for a physically healthy child, of whom there are very few in the system. It is important to understand that children end up in residential care facilities not because they have it easy: they may have health or developmental issues caused by difficult conditions in their biological families and in residential care facilities. Also, for most prospective adoptive parents, the child’s age is important—they mostly look for young children of preschool age. However, most of the children in the system who are available for adoption are older children, often teenagers,” comments Inna Miroshnychenko.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast has led in the number of adoptions for three years in a row—136 children found new families last year. Next are Kyiv Oblast (122 children) and Odesa Oblast (101 children). At the same time, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast has the highest number of orphans and children without parental care—7,397 children.
In addition to adoption, children are also placed in foster care or under guardianship. Thus, 6,627 children found new families in this way in 2025. This is 7% less compared to 2024.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/orphans-adoption-2026
The level of emotional stress among Ukrainian children continues to rise amid the war unleashed by Russia: in 2025, it reached 37%, with the 10-13 age group being the most vulnerable, among whom 40% of children have shown increased emotional distress, reported Viktor Mykyta, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
“The war unleashed by Russia is worsening the mental state of Ukrainian children every year… Experts have found that children who have active interests outside of gadgets—such as team sports, particularly soccer, active group activities, intellectual games, and so on—demonstrate the highest stress resilience,” Mykyta stated in a Telegram post.
According to the information, last year the level of stress among children rose by 10%, while in 2025 this figure has already reached 37%. The highest rates were recorded among children aged 10–13—40% of them are experiencing increased emotional tension.
