MAMA+ Brings Children Home
Svitlana’s parents divorced when she was three. Although her mother eventually remarried, Svitlana’s relationship with her stepfather was tense throughout her childhood. After completing the 9th grade, Svitlana left home to begin her own life.
Lacking professional skills, Svitlana worked as a laborer. When she met Serhiy, she believed that her life would change for the better. He was caring and supported her financially, and while some of his behavior was unusual, she didn’t concern herself with it as she was in love. Only later did she realize that Serhiy had been regularly injecting drugs. The young couple soon faced tough financial times and disagreements often turned into heated fights. Svitlana decided to leave Serhiy. Not long after, she learned that she was pregnant.
To keep her job, Svitlana decided to hide her pregnancy and did not register for prenatal care. Nine months later, she gave a birth to a healthy baby girl, Irynka, and received an HIV diagnosis. The maternity hospital referred Svitlana to USAID’s MAMA+ project for help.
Launched in summer 2005, MAMA+ seeks to build a system within Ukraine that keeps children born to HIV+ mothers within their biological families. It provides comprehensive psychological, social, medical and legal support for HIV+ mothers and their families in Donetsk, Kyiv and the Crimea.
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| Over the course of the past 18 months, the MAMA+ Project has helped 153 children born to HIV-positive mothers stay with their families and receive needed support. Four children born to and initially abandoned by HIV-positive mothers have been successfully reunited with their biological families |
When MAMA+ psychologists met with Svitlana, she had already made a decision to abandon her baby. Five days of regular meetings and counseling didn’t help. Svitlana argued that she had neither money, nor a place to live since she had broken up with Serhiy, and that she had to cope with her own HIV-positive status.
The MAMA+ team worked hard to persuade Svitlana to keep Irynka. They provided her with comprehensive information on HIV/AIDS and the services and support available, should she keep her baby. They also worked with the hospital’s chief doctor to temporarily halt the processing of Svitlana’s application to transfer the baby to a state institution. The hospital agreed to temporarily hold the baby while the mother resolved her personal issues.
To help Svitlana to cope with her problems, the MAMA+ team developed a case management plan. It sought to motivate Svitlana to restore relations with her mother, which would allow her to live together with Irynka in her mother’s three-room apartment in Boryspil. It also included supplying both Svitlana and her baby with food, hygiene supplies and other essential goods; regularly transporting Svitlana to a local AIDS center for registration and HIV counseling for herself and as a mother; and, providing regular home visits and parenting counseling to Svitlana and her mother to ensure the Irynka’s safety at home.
After intensive therapy, Svitlana called her mother to tell her about her new granddaughter. The meeting was a turning point in the case. Svitlana’s mother was happy to hear that her daughter was alive, and both she and Svitlana’s father-in-law immediately agreed to take-in both Svitlana and Irynka.
Last October, Svitlana and Irynka left the maternity hospital and headed home. With MAMA+ support, Irynka has stayed with her biological family, and both mother and baby are registered at the Kyiv AIDS Center and are under regular medical supervision, receiving the necessary therapy and diagnostics
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