Reform of deinstitutionalization (DI) and the development of a service system for people with disabilities are one of Ukraine’s European integration commitments. The relevant strategy for 2030 was approved approved by the government in December 2024.
One of the important components of the reform is the supported living service, which aims to help a person acquire the necessary skills for independent living.
How supported living houses operate, how residents are treated there, and the remarks from experts on the new standard of this social service – read in the ZMINA article.
What is supported living and how is it implemented in Ukraine?
Supported living refers to measures aimed at creating social and domestic conditions for the independent living of a person with a disability, protecting their rights and interests, and involving them in community life, explains in a comment to ZMINA advocacy manager of the public organization “Fight For Right,” DI expert Yevheniya Bulana.
“Currently, there are some supported living projects in Ukraine. However, when they are funded by the state or regional military administrations, they often take place in institutional settings, which, by definition, contradicts the essence of the supported living service,” she notes.
An important element of this service should be its location – in communities:
“What is currently called supported living in Ukraine is often not supported living at all. It is rather an alternative to traditional boarding institutions, providing a place for people with disabilities to live, but not a transitional service, which supported living should be.”
Thus, people often remain isolated, segregated far from populated areas, with no opportunities for socialization and community engagement. Often, people continue to live in closed institutions, notes Yevheniya Bulana.
However, according to the expert, Ukraine does have quality approaches from public organizations. One of the most successful examples of supported living service implementation is “Maysternia Mriyi” in Lviv:
“This is a supported living house where residents acquire skills for independent living, get socialized, and interact with their neighbors. Gradually, they become part of the community and prepare for independent life. It is a transit support format, where a person acquires skills so that in the future, possibly with the assistance of a support worker, they can live independently.”
Photo: Facebook “Master Dreams”
So, if we look at the options implemented by the civil sector, we can say that Ukraine does have a supported living service, notes Yevheniya Bulana.
New standard for supported living service: What’s wrong with it
The current state standard for supported living does not fully align with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and does not reflect the essence of the supported living approach, says the expert from Fight For Right.
“The standard currently in place has not been widely implemented, as the supported living service is essentially still in its infancy in Ukraine,” notes Yevheniya Bulana.
She explains that a new standard for the social supported living service is currently being developed, but it largely retains the same gaps regarding the regulation of where the service will be provided and the number of people who will receive the service at the same time in one place:
“In other words, the supported living service, in this approach, may continue the process of institutionalization, but under a ‘different wrapper.’”
The public organization “Fight For Right” has sent its comments and suggestions to the Ministry of Social Policy regarding the draft of the new state standard for supported living.
“We pointed out that it is extremely important to clarify the issue of the place of service provision, since the current wording regarding the possibility of providing the supported living service ‘in the premises of the social service provider’ does not rule out that this will take place in social institutions. Meanwhile, it is fundamentally important that the service be provided in ordinary housing within the community,” she adds.
The expert notes that if the service continues to be provided in certain social institutions, territorial centers, or boarding schools, this will simply be a continuation of the institutionalization practice:
“Perhaps on a smaller scale, but if the service is provided to 30 people at one location, we understand that this is the same as a boarding school.”
According to her, there are many issues with this new standard. One of the main ones is that the document combines categories of people with disabilities and older adults. However, these are very different categories of people – with different needs and skills.
When it comes to the supported living service for adult people with disabilities, especially young people, there should be a focus on acquiring specific skills.
This is because a person with a disability often goes through the entire institutional path from birth – first, an infant’s house, then a children’s boarding school, a youth department, and finally, an adult institution. Thus, these individuals have not had the opportunity to acquire these skills. In other words, for young people with disabilities, practical training and the support of personal assistants are necessary, says the expert.
In contrast, when it comes to older adults, it often concerns lost skills or those that a person cannot implement due to their health condition. In such cases, ongoing support is needed to enable the person to practically apply these skills.
Therefore, the supported living service should be provided by different specialists, and different approaches should be applied to its implementation.
“Some people need the assistant to be present on a constant basis, while others only need help with certain things – preparing food, cleaning, and communicating with institutions. An individual approach is needed here. This service must be completely applied with an individual approach. There is no universal method,” says Bulana.
She notes that the service may require a broad range of knowledge and skills from assistants, as well as the work of multidisciplinary teams of specialists. Some public organizations are already developing manuals that could be useful in training such specialists.
One of the advantages of the new standard is the well-developed questionnaire that will be used to provide the service, according to the expert from Fight For Right:
“The person has to go through a questionnaire, score a certain number of points, and based on this, it will be decided whether they are eligible for the service and what level of support they need.”
According to Bulana, the questionnaire covers a wide range of skills that a person needs for independent living.
“If it is used to assess needs and form an individual approach, it will be a good solution. But if the approach proposed by the standard remains, where it’s just a questionnaire to assess whether a person qualifies for the service or not, that’s not a very good option.”
However, if the Ministry of Social Policy listens to the recommendations sent by public organizations, the questionnaire can be used more constructively than just to assess whether a person is “worthy” of this service, notes Yevheniya Bulana:
“Now it is important for civil society to give its response to the steps being taken within the implementation of the Deinstitutionalization Strategy. It should be constructive and of high quality, not just allowing the same practice that existed before under a different wrapper. That is why Fight For Right is actively involved in the changes, ensuring that deinstitutionalization is implemented according to the standards of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”
Photo: Supported living home in Kyiv region (koda.gov.ua)
How not to turn supported living houses into new boarding schools
Official proposals to the draft of the state standard for the social supported living service for elderly people and people with disabilities were submitted by the public union “League of the Strong.”
Specialists point out several critical issues that require further refinement. Specifically, they emphasize the need to establish a rule regarding the number of people in one space:
“The draft lacks a limitation on the number of service users in a single living space. This creates the risk of reverting to an institutional model and small group homes. We urge the establishment of a clear regulatory limit considering individual needs and comfort.”
Experts draw attention to the importance of a separate approach to support for each group – elderly people and people with disabilities – taking into account their age, health condition, goals, and level of independence.
It is noted that the document does not sufficiently emphasize the observance of human rights and the rights of persons with disabilities. Therefore, the public association proposes clearly enshrining these principles in the standard itself.
Additional comments include:
The formal system of scoring should not be the decisive criterion for receiving the service. Decisions must consider context, not just numbers.
Evaluation should be regular; annual reviews are insufficient. There should be at least two regular reviews of individual support plans per year.
Rehabilitation, education, and employment are only part of the service. Supported living should not be limited to daily living support. There should also be assistance in education, vocational guidance, and employment.
Quality evaluation should reflect changes in life. Measurable indicators of progress for recipients should be introduced to reflect changes in independence and integration.
Denial of service must be transparent – if the refusal is due to a lack of resources, the standard should provide for informing authorities for proper service planning.
As stated by the Executive Director of “League of the Strong” Dar’ya Sydorenko, a person receiving supported living should have the choice: whom to live with, where to live, how to live. And communities should be ready to create such conditions. In the context of the war, when many people are becoming disabled, the issue of quality support cannot be postponed.
“Family Home” in Fastiv as an example of effective service for people with disabilities
One example of effective implementation of the supported living approach for people with disabilities can be seen in the city of Fastiv, Kyiv region. The house opened in the fall of 2024. ZMINA visited and spoke with the residents of the house and the staff who provide them with support.
The supported living house in Fastiv is located in the private sector of the city, but it is not enclosed by a fence. There is a small green area nearby. The house belongs to the Fastiv City Council, and the public organization “Family for People with Disabilities” has rented it for 10 years. The place used to be a medical office.
The house operates with the support of the Ukrainian-Swiss project “Mental Health for Ukraine” MH4U and Switzerland.
The first floor of the house has four rooms for eight residents, a kitchen, and two bathrooms, adapted for the needs of people with disabilities, including those who use wheelchairs. There is also a recreation area with a sofa and a large TV, as well as a separate room for staff.
The house has a modern interior in neutral colors. The rooms are furnished with quality beds, large wardrobes, study tables, and carpets on the floor. One room has a large soft teddy bear on the bed, and another room has flowerpots with seedlings on the windowsill.
The kitchen has a large dining table with high-backed chairs. The work surfaces are lowered, taking into account the needs of people with disabilities. There is an electric induction stove, an oven, and a built-in washing machine.
On the second floor, there are plans to organize a social service for temporary respite care. It provides temporary care for a person with a disability, including a child, during the absence of parents (or those replacing them), who provide long-term care.
Such a service can be provided for no more than 30 calendar days per year. For example, when parents need to go to the hospital, go on a business trip, or simply rest. However, funding for repairs, which costs about 2.5 million UAH, has not yet been found, says the coordinator of the supported living house Taisia Chervinska.
The Stories of the Residents of the House and Their Dreams
We visit the "Family Home" on Sunday. Out of seven residents, three were taken home by their families for the weekend. Sasha, Kolya, Roma, and Andriy, who remain and talk to me, have experience living in institutional facilities.
Twenty-year-old Oleksandr is dressed in a spotless white shirt that he ironed himself. He is from Luhansk region and has been living in boarding schools since he was 12 years old. In the boarding school, he was involved in work as a loader and in the kitchen, so he came to the supported living house with back problems. The young man recalls that in the boarding school, he was sometimes beaten so badly that his back would be bruised.
Photo: ZMINA
Oleksandr says he loves sitting in the kitchen. On this day, he is holding a tablet. Roman sits down next to him to play checkers together on the gadget.
Staff members of the "Family Home" say that Sasha and Mykola travel independently to the chess club in the city and have participated in tournaments twice. Oleksandr wants to study programming and hopes to get married in the future. He has an adult sister living in Lviv and a grandmother in the occupied territory.
Sasha has a good chance of getting free housing as an internally displaced person (IDP). Taїsia Chervynska says that she will raise the issue to help him get an apartment or at least a room in a dormitory.
Mykola is 18 years old. He is from Kyiv. The young man spent three years in the I.P. Pavlov hospital in the capital. Before that, he lived with his grandmother, in an orphanage, and at a vocational school, where he studied floristry and landscaping.
“He reached out to us, called, we met, and as a team, we did a comprehensive assessment of individual social needs for supported living. By the points, he 'passed,' and was accepted,” recalls Taїsia Chervynska.
Photo: ZMINA
Eighteen-year-old Mykola shows and describes his room and work desk, notebooks about plants, about the English language, general plans, an e-book, knee cream, earplugs for sleep, his favorite "Minecraft" rug, a prayer book, a guitar, and a flute. He shows where he “sits with the laptop” and studies online with an English tutor. He also shows his clothes in the wardrobe, deodorant, and toothpaste.
The flower seedlings on the windowsill are Kolya's handiwork. He wants to plant them in the flowerbeds near the house.
Mykola dreams of entering a university, but last year, he was unable to pass the National Multi-Subject Test (NMPT) to the required score. So, he pays for a tutor with his own money.
Living in the "Family Home" is very different from living in an orphanage, says Mykola:
“Here, we learn to cook, we learn independence. There are different activities. In the orphanage, you sit in one place and rarely go out. But here, there are always trips. We work here, but there was no work in the orphanage. The food was poor there, but here, we cook whatever we want.”
Photo: ZMINA
Taїsia adds: Mykola really wanted borscht and made it completely by himself for the first time in his life. He found a recipe online and followed it precisely. The boys ate the whole borscht immediately.
Both Mykola and Oleksandr will be able to live independently in the future. However, 28-year-old Andriy will need support in the future. He struggles with learning but has a strong desire to maintain cleanliness – this gives him a chance to work in a restaurant helping to wash dishes and keep things tidy. Andriy has a father and stepmother who occasionally visit him.
On the day of our visit, Roman is on kitchen duty, making borscht. The nineteen-year-old is from the Kyiv region. He is very cheerful and lively.
Photo: ZMINA
Roman has a severe leg deformity. Rehabilitation specialist Dmytro Dyachenko says that he is concerned about Roman's leg condition. He needs a professional consultation with an orthopedic surgeon and, most likely, future surgery, which may be too expensive for Roman.
“Roman needs to undergo thorough examination. He has a diagnosis of 'varus deformity of the hip,' but it is clear that the knees are also involved. We are just starting to address this issue. After the orphanage, it was very difficult for the boys to adapt; they were embarrassed,” says the specialist.
The rehabilitation specialist adds that it is unclear how long this project will last, so they need to help the boys as much as possible during this time:
“This situation requires funds and surgical intervention. In the future, it will be painful for him to walk.”
Roman's mother was deprived of parental rights, but now she has started actively communicating with him. Roman has many dreams – to buy his own apartment, learn to drive a car, buy a car, and also a summer house. He wants to meet a girl and get married. His nearest achievable dream is to get a bicycle.
Photo: ZMINA
Roman graduated from a sewing school and is very good at tasks at the factory. However, he still doesn't know how to handle money properly. Specialists say that he may receive disability benefits and buy various items for himself, such as a phone or a smartwatch. He also struggles with time orientation and doesn't understand how to travel by minibus.
According to the new standard, "more complex" residents will have the right to supported living
Taїsia Chervynska explains: the purpose of supported living services is to allow people with disabilities to receive mentorship, get an education, start working, create a family, and have a full and fulfilling life.
“Here, they’ve learned to use household appliances, handle food, and use transportation,” notes the specialist.
According to her, the old supported living standard required high points to access the service. The new standard proposes to lower the required points.
“For example, Andriy’s passing score is 145. All of our guys have scores between 145 and 183. Under the new standard, the passing score will be no less than 78. This means that people who are harder to adapt will have the right to supported living,” explains Taїsia Chervynska.
Thus, under the new standard, people with not only mild intellectual disabilities but also moderate ones will be eligible for supported living. This implies an increased demand for specialists.
The material was prepared with the support of the project “Promoting Ukraine’s Alignment with the EU in the Area of Rule of Law” (3*E4U), implemented on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany by Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
