Hope and Homes For Children: Sheffield charity boss describes 'fraught' rescue mission for Ukrainian 'orphans'

Mark Waddington, who grew up near Sheffield Botanical Gardens, is the chief executive of Hope and Homes for Children, an international charity working to prevent children being ‘institutionalised’ in orphanages when many have families who could look after them with the right support.

It is desperate to focus the world’s attention on the plight of the 100,000 children in 700 orphanages across Ukraine, which it calls the ‘unseen victims’ of the conflict.

They were already exposed to the risk of violence, abuse and neglect which the charity says is ‘synonymous’ with such institutions, where in the worst cases children are exploited for sex or trafficked for labour and even for their body parts.

But with fighting now raging around them they are even more vulnerable, as the buildings where they live are targeted by missiles, staff are fleeing and many children are being left to face the dangers of war alone – a situation the charity describes as an ‘emergency of epic proportions’.

Mark spoke to The Star about the huge challenge ahead after a successful mission to rescue 65 children from a Ukrainian orphanage to safety in neighbouring Romania, where soldiers had kindly lined the bridge youngsters crossed upon entry with toys to make them feel welcome.

“It was a fraught 50-hour operation to get them out by train and bus on a circuitous route,” he said.

"Many of the children were exhausted and by the time they reached the border, we had to ask some of the adult refugees fleeing Ukraine to carry seven of the children aged under three across to Romania.”

Mark said there is much more to do, with many orphanages across Ukraine down to a ‘skeleton staff’, dramatically increasing the risk of abuse, and in some cases children and even babies being abandoned and ‘left to their own devices’.