I thought it might be helpful to our local churches to create a ‘Ukraine Update’ webpage regarding Ukrainians coming to Wales. I hope this will help us to plan, prepare and pray together.

I will keep this page updated, as new information and further developments happen - so do keep checking back. I will indicate the changes at the top of the page, for ease of reference.

Bibles/Books/Resources in Ukrainian

Bibles in Ukrainian are available via The Bible Society and there’s a lovely story book in Ukrainian for 6-9 year olds - Click here for these and other resources in Ukrainian.

Vision

As a charity our vision is to be part of the “Team Wales” approach, harnessing the energy and resources of volunteers and Third Sector organisations, so that all seeking a place of sanctuary, will find a community welcome, a place of belonging and an opportunity to thrive. (John 10:10!)

Working alongside Flintshire LA, we have been working on how we might shape this vision.

numbers

The map above shows the 4 pathways for Ukrainians to come to Wales (The Corporate Sponsor route is not yet launched).

Towards the end of March 10,000 homes had been registered as ‘host homes’, by 8th April, 1700 visas had been applied for from hosts who had found matches with Ukrainians, but only 200 visas had been issued.

The data across the 6 Counties in North Wales shows that there will be c. 15 host homes, with around 40 Ukrainians, per County. This is a random spread of a total of around 270 Ukrainians in host homes. However, it does show the scale of what we can expect.

Across Wales there will be 4/5 Welcome Centres established. The currently published one is LLangrannog Urdd Centre, which will take c. 250 Ukrainians. In NE Wales, a further Welcome Centre should be ready in a couple of weeks and able to accommodate c.150 Ukrainians. On the Western side of North Wales, we are expecting a Welcome Centre to be confirmed soon, and this will accommodate c. 150 Ukrainians.

What happens when Ukrainians arrive at a host home?

The County will already know which are host homes and will make contact after the Ukrainians have received their visas.

There are things that host homes/sponsors should expect to happen, which will involve ensuring the accommodation is suitable and safeguarding and DBS processes are in place. The LA will be responsible for wrap-around provision:

health care,
education,
benefits,
jobs
housing

In regard to schools, the process across the Counties is a similar picture, with the usual admissions process being maintained eg Conwy.

Top

What can we do to support?

The Church is in a unique place and has a unique offering to support Ukrainians, as they arrive in our communities, and also in supporting the hosts. In every community we have ‘plant’ which is designed to welcome the public across the threshold, has 3rd party insurance in place and has Safeguarding processes fully in place, and all the necessary policies and practices. We have pastoral teams.

The one thing that is challenging thinking across Wales, at the moment, is how to DBS people who want to ‘befriend’ and be ‘good neighbours’ to the hosts and Ukrainians. Not all, but most refugees, will be either vulnerable adults, or children, who will need support - transport to appointments, accompanying Ukrainians and volunteer interpreters to meetings/appointments, support in filling in forms etc. Churches can make an invaluable contribution by extending their pastoral teams now, so when the people from Ukraine arrive at the host homes and in the community, we can make their integration safe and smooth. If you are able to expand your Pastoral Team, please could you advise your members newly DBS’d to sign up with the DBS Update Service, as this enables them to volunteer across different sectors, making their DBS ‘transportable’. It is free to do so and you can register at the same time as you apply for the DBS. If you put UKRAINE on the DBS application, it will speed up the processing.

Please look at our Local Community Welcome and Support Model and if you are able to offer a Team from your church ready, prepared, trained we need to help you share this information.

Training

Trauma Awareness: We are concerned about first contact people (ie pastoral visitors, hosts, befrienders etc) being equipped to support people who have been through trauma. There are various awareness packages.videos etc and we are in discussions with a group of local experienced trauma counsellors to see if we can offer something bespoke locally.

Safeguarding training: The Church in Wales has its own packages, but it is worth knowing that the Welsh Government recommends everyone involved, in any regard, with volunteering to support Ukrainian Refugees, should complete the Social Care Wales Group A Safeguarding e-learning course (log in as Guest). This has just been made public and is accessible for all.

School Training: Flintshire has released a brilliant course for schools and this may be something you would feel appropriate to ask your Church Schools to follow.

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Grassroots Up

Our focus is very much a grassroots approach. We are imagining a Ukrainian family arriving at a host home - how does that work? What happens if, even, with LA support, the hosts feel at a loss as to where to turn for help? The hosts may struggle with the huge change of dynamics in their home, what support is available? We want to shout loud that we are here, and we have the necessary information to help and the people prepared, ready and able to support.

Our current foci:

As we continue to gather information from our WG meetings and continue to work with the Counties and Third Sector organisations, we are focussing on the following:

Continue to build the Interpreter 'bank'
Continue to develop a trauma strategy
Continue to build the network with the N Wales voluntary councils
Continue to work with Dave Jolly at Flintshire on the Unified Mobilisation Map and meeting other LAs.
Strategically look at the map of Local Community Support Hubs and the location of HCUHB Community Support Hubs and see where Geographically there could be further conversations in local communities/MAs. We are working closely with Lisa Goodier, the Lead Manager to co-ordinate with Interpreters and Counsellors.
We have a 'bank' of hosts looking to be matched with Ukrainians, we are looking at a workable, safe process
Keep the Dioceses and MAs updated on the current national & regional picture.

our team

We are all volunteers and do our best with the time we have available!

Ali Ussery - Network Lead (Partnership Networking)

Tim Hall - Charity Director