PROGRAM OVERVIEW
UCAP has formalized a partnership with Save Ukraine, a leading organization working to locate and return Ukrainian children who have been forcibly taken during Russia’s war, through a joint initiative called Homecoming.
Irwin and Karen have known of Save Ukraine’s work and have met the organization’s founder, Mykola Kubela, several times over the past few years. His work locating and returning abducted Ukrainian children deep inside Russia is arduous in the extreme.
Homecoming serves as the first operational step in rescuing Ukrainian children from Russian occupation, abduction, and forced assimilation. Putin’s forces have abducted nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children. That’s 20,000 heartbroken Ukrainian families.
These kids are brought to Russia and scattered across the country. Younger children are given new names and put up for adoption. It’s a formal process where Russian authorities have actually created an online “catalog” of kidnapped Ukrainian children available for perusal by Russian families looking to adopt. Older children and youth are sent to reeducation propaganda camps, some brainwashed to the point that they are sent back to Ukraine as members of Russia’s army. The photo gallery shown here reflects this documented reality.
While thousands of children remain trapped in occupied territories or have been forcibly taken by Russia, families are deliberately isolated through fear, disinformation, and restricted access to reliable information. In this environment, rescue cannot begin without one essential element: secure, trusted communication.
Homecoming builds and maintains that bridge.
Through encrypted digital channels, verified information, and trauma-aware messaging, the program reaches families under occupation, counters intimidation and disinformation, and restores their ability to seek help safely. Homecoming does not fund physical extraction or rehabilitation; instead, it enables those efforts by ensuring families know rescue is possible, understand their options, and can make informed decisions.
The project also amplifies international awareness of the mass abduction and forced indoctrination of Ukrainian children, helping prevent these crimes from being obscured or normalized.
