UGCC to Publish Methodological Handbook for Working with Children of Immigrants

The group of authors who are working on a methodological handbook for work with the children of immigrants held a meeting on September 13 in Ivano-Frankivsk. The team includes nearly 10 people from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) Commission for Education and Upbringing, the Ukrainian Catholic University, the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Center for Applied Psychology and Social Work, Caritas Ukraine Charitable Foundation, and the UGCC Commission on Matters of Immigrants. The chief editor is Svitlana Stelmach from the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU).

This methodological publication will be useful for social workers, school psychologists, and psychologists who work in various non-governmental and religious organizations.

According to Hryhoriy Seleschuk, the head of the UGCC Commission on Matters of Immigrants, it is Ukraine’s first educational publication dedicated to such a topic. The book consists of two parts: a theoretical section on the foundation of the role of the father and mother in the upbringing of children from birth to adulthood and a section with practical methods and techniques for working with children of migrants.

“We are working on a new methodological format for Ukraine, in the theoretical part of which we analyze the development of the child's age, the role of the father and mother in his or her social formation, the absence of one parent and the needs of the child,” explained Sister Khrystophora Bushtyn, head of the UGCC Commission for Education and Upbringing. The authors say it will be a practical guide for how to ensure that the children’s time is spent as beneficently as possible.  

The methods presented in this publication will be implemented in three centers for children of immigrants: in Ivano-Frankivsk, Novovolynsk and Drohobych, the Information Department of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church informs.