The story of a large couple from the Ternopil region who took 17 children under their care

In the Ternopil region, the large family of the Rozhytskys, having five children of their own, took seventeen more under their care. Almost all of them had certain diagnoses, such as cerebral palsy, hearing problems, etc.

“Ukrainian Pravda. Life” talked to Svitlana Rozhytska, a mother of many children. The woman told why you should not be afraid to adopt children with developmental disabilities and shared the story of their upbringing.

“Even the poorest family is better than a boarding school”

The Rozhytskyi family began to grow actively 20 years ago. At the same time, as Mrs. Svitlana admits, she never planned to adopt or take care of children, because she grew up in a family with two children. Instead, Svetlana’s husband is from a large family.

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The Rozhytskyi family began to grow actively 20 years ago

However, everything was changed by a girl who could not speak or hear from birth. Her mother died and the child was taken to a boarding school.

“We lived on neighboring streets with this family, but we didn’t know each other. Neighbors introduced us“, – says the woman.

Svetlana was very moved by the fate of the child and repeatedly visited her in the boarding school. And when the girl turned 18, she had nowhere to go. So the woman took her to live with her.

Then the family sheltered a girl with psychiatric problems and developmental delay. According to the woman, she was a very good and calm child, but her mother gave her up at birth. Now the girl is 25 years old and she has already become a mother herself – she gave birth to three babies. Svetlana helps raise them, because the children’s father left the family.

“She married another one of my adopted boys – Vasyl. At first everything was fine between them, but then he left her. You know, I can’t condemn him, children from boarding schools don’t know what family is, responsibility. They are mentally traumatized“, says Ms. Svitlana.

Vasyl himself and another girl knocked on the Rozhytskyi’s door 20 years ago on New Year’s Eve.

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“I was struck by the fact that the children were drunk. They said they were very hungry and asked me for money for food“, Svitlana recalls.

At that time, the woman had just given birth to her third child a week ago and returned home from maternity leave. But she let the teenagers into the house and even left them to celebrate the New Year.

Vasyl, as the woman says, “was an extremely problematic child.” When Svitlana decided to take him from the boarding school, they were surprised. He was only 12 years old then, but he “drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes, sniffed glue and acetone.” He constantly ran away from the boarding school. The boy was found in different cities of Ukraine. In the Rozhitsky family, he got rid of almost all his addictions, says Svitlana.

“You know, boarding schools are against taking away children from families. At least it was like that before the war. They told me directly: how much longer will you be visiting us? How many children will you take? Why are you taking away our bread? Can you imagine? But I didn’t pay attention to it. Because even the poorest family is a better place for a child than an internt”, says the mother of many children.

“For a long time, children from boarding schools cannot get enough”

Despite the diagnoses, all the children in the Rozhytskyi family changed both morally and physically. And those diagnosed with “profound mental retardation” went to ordinary schools and outwardly did not differ from completely healthy children, says Svitlana.

ALL PHOTOS: from the Rozhytskyi family archive

“Once I took in a 14-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. He could not walk and looked much younger than his age. My husband and I worked intensively with the child, took him to medical sanatoriums. And already for 4 years of living in our family, he rode a bicycle. Now he is 23 years old, he graduated from school, he is studying at an institute. Lives separately not far from his adoptive parents. He is completely independent and socialized for life“, the woman continues.

Svitlana adds that many children from the boarding school cannot satisfy their hunger for the first time in the family.

“Children from boarding schools cannot eat enough for a long time. I do not restrict them in food. One girl asked for buckwheat and pickled tomatoes all year after the orphanage. When I mold dumplings, I make four types at once – so that everyone can choose the ones they like. I’m cooking meatballs, sweeties.” – says the woman.

Two years ago, the Rozhytskyi took two more brothers into their family. According to the woman, she and her husband have never regretted their decision to become adoptive parents. All children call them mom and dad.

“You know, I always say that there are children born of the flesh, and there are children born of the heart. I gave birth to my adopted children in my heart. And maybe I can’t give them much, but the main thing is maternal and paternal love, they have“, says the mother of many children.

Every time Svitlana takes a child into the family, she promises herself that it will be the last time.

“But who knows, maybe another poor child will knock on the door of my house and touch my mother’s heart…”, – the woman admits.

Read also: “I would like families not to be afraid of teenagers.” The story of a family that adopted a 12-year-old boy from a boarding school