Ukrainian children and families are being taken in by Polish families

By Claire Harbage,

Published March 7, 2022 at 6:01 AM CST

Two Ukrainian girls in foster care look out the window of a home they are now sharing with a Polish foster family in Bilgoraj, Poland. More than 1.5 million Ukrainians — many of them children — have fled since the Russian invasion.

More than 1.5 million Ukrainians — many of them children — have fled since Russia invaded their country over a week ago.

Some are children who had been living at an SOS Children's Village in Brovary, Ukraine, a home for children who have been have been orphaned, abused or neglected.

The international nonprofit finds legal guardians for children without adequate parental care.

A house and playground at an SOS Children's Village in Bilgoraj, Poland. SOS Children's Villages operate around the world to find legal guardians for children without adequate parental care.

One of those guardians, Luba Yaschuk, says the Russians invaded when she was on vacation with the three children she cares for. They immediately headed for the Polish border, leaving everything behind in their home. One of her children, 11-year-old Vanya, says the panic of war — and escaping the war — is all everyone talks about.

Luba Yaschuk and her three children, including Vanya, 11, were on a vacation in Ukraine when the Russian invasion began. They fled to the Polish border without returning home to gather their belongings.

The children are now in Poland, taken in by other families associated with SOS Children's Villages. Other Poles are also taking in Ukrainians displaced by war. So many are offering temporary lodging that Polish authorities say they have no immediate need for refugee camps.

A Ukrainian foster girl stands in the kitchen of a Polish foster home. A group of four adults and 17 foster children crossed the border from Ukraine to Poland together.

A caretaker at an SOS Children's Village in Bilgoraj, Poland, walks children through the property.

A Ukrainian girl is being fostered at a home in Poland.

Sebastian Cybulski, a Polish foster parent, is caring for a Ukrainian family in his home.

Three Ukrainian girls hang out in the kitchen of their new foster home in Poland.

Stickers are seen on a window of an SOS Children's Village, where Ukrainians are staying, in Bilgoraj, Poland.