Support for those signing up to host Ukrainians.

[Holidayreservation]

I know there’s the other thread but that’s more so of a debate of why/why not people who are going to host Ukrainians refugees.

I’m 95% sure I’m going to do it, I signed up to a charity on Friday but that’s more of a Ukrainian based support network so I’m not sure they’ll be working with hosting people over here.

I’m waiting for the official government website to go live to read more details - so far we’ve got that there’s a monthly £350 ‘thank you’ for being hosting and it’s a minimum of 6 months.

I know these government contracts/schemes can be hard to navigate and they’ll be a lot of winging it/not a lot of info with bumps to be signing up (apparently we’ll be vetted) but it usually takes weeks for DBS to be submitted.

I thought it might be good to have a place for us to share info and whack our brains together/hand hold as this could be a fair amount of upheaval to get this going/hosting.

I couldn’t make the Sanctuary webinar. Was it useful? Any information you could share?

Just joining in as we have filled in a charity form to host Ukranian refugees and think hand holding would be very useful.
Slightly different scenario, as we are Orthodox Jews, and we signed up with a charity who is specifically looking for hosting for (at least) 100 Ukranian Orthodox Jewish families. We phoned them and they sent us a web form. They suggested that we only fill in the government form if/when they had made a match with the information we provided. Do wonder what we might be letting ourselves in for, but religous Jews will need kosher food/cooking facilities (which we can provide and is not so easily findable in the UK) and religous support, and the community is not so large here so there may be a limited pool of people with space. Form asked us whether we had a preference for elderly or women and children (left blank) and whether we spoke Russian or Ukrainian (neither) - might end up communicating in my limited Hebrew I guess.
We will see what the charity comes up with (not sure if Purim will interfere with what they are doing). We have quite a large room with its own bathroom downstairs which was previously used by the carers for my special needs son (who is now an adult and not living at home), so there is space. Am feeling quite daunted, but keep thinking about the kinder transport, and all the people who took in children then (and also the difficulties those that wanted to keep kosher had, well meaning as people were).

[quote Jansobieski]@Tulipomania I've signed up with the facebook page of a charity for this too. I'm a bit bewildered tbh. There are 20 - 30 host offers for every Ukrainian looking for help. How on earth can a person choose who is a suitable match ? And the photos of families, pets, kids etc makes me feel it's becoming a bit of a competition. One family was even saying how sporty they were and what they could offer. We live in a humble but comfortable 3 bed terrace in the NW. Certainly not a 5 bedroom mansion. On paper I doubt anyone would choose us. I just feel a bit meh about it now..[/quote]
I read an article saying that at the moment not many Ukrainians actually want to come to the U.K. because they're still hoping to go home soon and prefer to stay close by. I'm guessing that at the moment there's lots of families all ready and enthusiastic in the U.K. but it may take weeks or months for Ukrainians to reach the point where they feel ready to start afresh quite far from their home.

Sorry, I gave up on the Sanctuary Foundation seminar.

It was starting to get a little more practical, but was still at the stage of "Think about what a young refugee child might need, like a guard on the bunkbed."

Questions in chat were almost all practical: "How do I do X, will it affect Y?" Very few answers while I was there. People were starting to get very frustrated.

I suspect the answer to most of the Qs was going to be No One Knows Yet.

Maybe it got better towards the end?

amchi, that's marvellous. All very best of luck.

Good luck to you amchi

I do feel that trying to match families with appropriate hosts is going to be key to the success of this programme. That's why I am not going to respond to a random post on Facebook - and there seem to be plenty of others who are willing to go that route. I will try contacting a couple of charities too - thanks for the links PP's posted above.

‘I read an article saying that at the moment not many Ukrainians actually want to come to the U.K. because they're still hoping to go home soon and prefer to stay close by. I'm guessing that at the moment there's lots of families all ready and enthusiastic in the U.K. but it may take weeks or months for Ukrainians to reach the point where they feel ready to start afresh quite far from their home.’

Indeed!
The family that was talking about coming to us has got to Romania and decided to stay there for now as they are hopeful it won’t be that long before they can go home.
We are waiting to hear from another family through the same contact but for now I am thinking sending money to refugee charities in Poland might be the best way to help since Poland is obviously the logical place for a lot of people to go for a number of reasons. It’s all very up in the air at the moment so we can just be available and go with the flow as far as actually hosting people goes.

Someone on another thread has said they found the Sanctuary Foundation webinar very useful, so I probably just missed the good stuff.

@Firefliess, I hope you won't mind if I repost your excellent summary here:

Just attended the online event run by the Sanctuary Foundation that someone helpfully linked to earlier. Really good event and very positive. Key message was that the scheme being set up isn't quite there yet and is still being worked up but has real potential to work, and will be made to work by many charities who are working hard to find ways to link hosts to refugees and support everyone.

A few other things I noted:

Most are women with children.

Most likely to be keen to go back once safe.

Lots of national charities that can help with support, schooling etc via webchat.

Visa applications open on Friday. You apply with your details and also the details of the people you want to host.

Might need DSB, not quite clear yet.

Once checked should be a week or so from when you fill in the visa application until they arrive.

Reset UK is a charity which have a website Homesforukraine.org.uk just being set up to advertise your room and the refugees are matched. It is currently registering refugees but they expect to open up to hosts to register soon. They will do the matching, not a free for all.

Recording of the Sanctuary Foundation webinar:

From their follow-up email:

As you will know the government only announced phase 1 of the scheme on Monday so we are giving you all the information that is available and wisdom from experienced hosts and subject area experts in helping refugees.

This is a fast evolving situation and so we will keep you updated as soon as we have more information.

Thank you for your many questions we will update our FAQ section of the website regularly and will seek to produce a check list for you with the information that is currently available.

We expect phase 2 of the scheme to be announced at some point and as soon as we have more details we will let you know.

Immediate next steps:

1. Make your pledge to be a sponsor here: sanctuaryfoundation.org.uk

2. Register your interest on the government website here homesforukraine.campaign.gov.uk

3. Direct Ukrainian refugees to RESET's site www.homesforukraine.org.uk

I have signed up with this website too.
www.ukrainetakeshelter.com/

Another family is lined up to come to us and we will be filling in the forms tomorrow. They have 3 under 5 😮 Can you imagine having 3 of that age and having to deal with war and relocation, given how hard merely existing can be when they are that age?
Also no wonder they haven’t up to this point felt able to get on a train with nowhere to go.
I need to try and activate my local mum networks and also find out if any other Ukrainians are coming to the area, because it could be horrendously isolating for the mum. The dad teaches the same subject at Kyiv University as my dh does here so he can arrange a visiting fellowship.
Can someone point me to the best way to find out if there are other Ukrainians coming to the area? Do you think just ask in the normal local Facebook group?

Yes, I'm sure there will be local Facebook groups putting Ukrainians in touch with others locally.

The charity Baby Basics were on the webinar yesterday. They specialise in offering baby equipment and seem to plan getting involved with Ukrainian arrivals. They seem to be very well networked, so possibly will be able to signpost or act as information clearing groups as well.

baby-basics.org.uk

Forms don’t seem to be live yet.

The form for the Ukrainian guest to fill in is out, but I can’t yet find a form for the sponsor to fill in other than the initial one for registering interest- anyone know anything else yet?

I've just looked at the Refugees at Home link posted above.

The home page says: "Please only apply to host if you live in a city or large town with good transport links."

I'm a small country town but there is a bus stop nearby with a good service between 2 larger towns which both have mainline stations. What do people think?

I don't want to waste anyone's time when I know resources will be spread thinly.

Do the other charities say the same?
I can see why they have decided to prioritise the sponsors who are most likely to be matchable so obviously don’t try through them but it doesn’t mean you won’t be the right sponsor for someone iyswim.

No they don't but they don't seem to be as professional or well organised either.

Ah they’ve sent out the information now. Just one form. And safeguarding checks on hosts will be happening after arrival rather than holding the process up.

Anyone else in the throes of form wrangling?

There is a more active thread here, which may be more useful:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4503717-thread-for-those-interested-in-refugee-hosting-sponsorship?pg=20

Oh thank you so much Tulipomania, I thought it seemed surprisingly quiet here.

Hi
Sorry to slightly hijack this thread but could anyone help? I signed up as a host on the Homes for Ukraine gov.uk link and haven't heard anything but lots of people on MN seem to be already hosting people. Am I supposed to do something else?

inews.co.uk/news/homes-for-ukraine-how-to-support-refugees-psychologist-tips-1564873