*Editor’s Note: This is the first article in a series sharing the stories of CAFO members who are actively working to transition children from institutionalized care to family-based solutions around the world. Each of these organizations and leaders participated in the “Moving Toward Family Solutions” grant cohort led by the CAFO Research Center in 2024-2025.
As bombs and missiles rained down on Ukraine in February 2022, Dr. Sherri McClurg crouched in the dirt cavern bomb shelter underneath the city, praying through the night.
Her prayers echoed those of the women and children around her: “Lord, get us out of here safely,” she repeated over and over.
But there was another prayer nestled in there, too — prayers for an orphanage in the red zone.
“We had one more orphanage to evacuate,” she said, remembering the terror of that night. “I said, Lord, if there’s anything more for us to do here, you’ve got to make it really, really clear. Because if we’re supposed to wait for them, we’ll wait. We’ll get them out. But if not, we’re out of here.”
How it all began
As the CEO of New Horizons for Children, McClurg had recently coordinated a hosting program for Ukrainian orphans in the US in January of 2022. The nonprofit based in Mentor, Ohio had been working in Ukraine for years to provide trauma-informed training to caregivers, build relationships to support children with Christian families, and provide support for youth aging out of orphanages.
Amidst rumors of the imminent outbreak of war, McClurg flew back to Ukraine to assist in the safe transport of children from the eastern border to other locations in the west. Her ongoing relationships with in-country staff and leadership, based on NHFC’s years of support and training, made her a trusted partner during a frightening time.
“Things got really crazy, really quickly,” she said. “The war broke out while we were moving these kids, so we just stayed and started helping different orphanages to get them to the border.
“We saw so many things that deeply bothered us,” she continued.
Among them were accounts of trafficking and dazed caregivers who dropped orphaned children off at the border, sending them across to refugee camps on their own. Determined to get more help, McClurg wrote an impassioned letter to the Ukrainian government about what she had witnessed and the need to protect Ukraine’s children.
The meeting that changed everything
The morning following that fateful bombing, as McClurg loaded her van to flee to safety, she received a life-changing message via courier: the government was requesting her presence at an urgent meeting.
It had been weeks since she sent her letter of concern. After waiting outside in the cold for hours (all government buildings were closed during active air raids), she was ushered in to face a Ukrainian military leader.
“He took my hands very gently,” she remembered. Through a translator, he told her, “We got your letter … We’ve seen the work that you’ve done. Thank you for helping us save Ukraine’s children.”
And then his eyes filled with tears, she said. “Yours was the first letter to say, These are Ukraine’s children. They need to be kept safe,” he told her. “We’ve got to protect their heritage … Let’s come up with a way to keep them in-country.”
McClurg was asked to stay and assist with the safe transport of more children and orphanages in Eastern Ukraine.
“I had prayed for God to be abundantly clear, and this man is asking me to help him save children in the war,” she remarked. “That’s abundantly clear.”
Urgent needs and long-term implications
To date, NHFC has helped authorities to evacuate over 5,200 children from the active war zone.
Originally thinking the children would be relocated temporarily until the war ended, they placed them as quickly as possible into safe settings, which included large institutions, camps and orphanages. But then weeks became months, followed by years.
“As time went by, this became upsetting. It’s the very thing we didn’t want to do, that we work to educate people to move away from,” McClurg commented.
So she quickly got to work training caregivers and social workers throughout the oblast in Western Ukraine on the best ways to support children who’ve experienced trauma. She also started knocking on the doors of churches everywhere, building relationships across denominations to provide greater support and resources for children. As the war continued, she thought, “We’ve got to find people willing to be foster families in a war zone.”
Foster care has not been considered the primary way of caring for vulnerable children in Ukraine, even before the war, McClurg shared.
“The war has been going on for three and a half years, and in the beginning, [many] thought we were crazy… but we’ve been consistently there and they’ve watched,” she said. Even government officials who previously thought a building and food for orphans was “good enough” are now recognizing that the needs of children go far beyond simply housing and meals, she noted.
Growing in knowledge and practice
There are still hundreds of children in shelters in Western Ukraine, McClurg said, where NHFC is working with the government to build a sustainable system of foster care. To date, their organization has opened three foster group homes caring for 10 children each – a small but inspiring first step toward care reform in this region.
McClurg and her colleague, Kristi Hannon, joined the Moving Toward Family Solutions grant cohort with the CAFO Research Center in 2024 to grow in their knowledge of best practices as they actively worked to transition children from shelters to foster group homes.
The cohort, which included a $10,000 micro-grant to support the project, proved to be a challenge for the pair as they worked in an active war zone – but program coordinator, Dalia Mena, said they faithfully participated and contributed to the group while sharing their learnings along the way to support others.
“Sherri and Kristi are remarkably resilient,” said Dalia Mena, the Care Transition Coordinator at CAFO. “The steps they are taking in Ukraine are the beginning of something beautiful, and they are an incredible example of faithfulness in kingdom work to countless others who are working in this field.”
During the cohort, McClurg and Hannon carefully implemented monitoring and evaluation for each child in the foster group home they supported, collecting data and developing reports to show growth and progress in their social and emotional development.
“Every six months, we’re seeing the kids’ progress,” McClurg said, “and that’s exciting to the families and to the children’s services [in Ukraine]. We wouldn’t have done that piece if we hadn’t joined the grant because we’re in a war zone … but this helped us be very thoughtful.
“We now have 30 kids in families who love Jesus, and those kids are being loved,” she added.
Hannon shared that she was blessed by the other people learning alongside them in the course and group, noting the similar challenges they all face with government collaboration, no matter where they live.
“We’re walking a lot of the same roads in our struggles,” she said, “which is surprising because the countries where we work could not be more different — but the challenges with government were very similar.”
Open doors and the long road ahead
While the war continues in Ukraine, McClurg said they will continue to step through the doors God opens for them in the country.
“Every time you go, ok, are we done? And then I go back and it’s like the next thing opens up. We’ve seen God open doors, time and time again” she said.
Some of those open doors include a pathway for ongoing training for foster parents, government caregivers, and even teachers. McClurg said she hopes to train 25,000 teachers in the region, funds permitting.
During the CAFO Moving Toward Family Solutions cohort, another door opened in the form of a partnership – a home large enough to keep a sibling group of 9 children together. This came from a relationship McClurg had built with a local church, who shared their home with the program.
“This is an amazing thing that they have done,” Mena remarked. “This was only possible because of the relationships that she had built with the church and government. This is another lesson for those who work in care transition in silos — you need to build relationships and partnerships. You can’t do this work alone.”
– Jenny Pope is the Director of Communications for CAFO.
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Are you helping residential programs move toward family care? We’d love to invite you to explore more resources from the CAFO Research Center’s “Family-Based Solutions” and consider joining the fall Moving Toward Family Solutions cohort beginning in October 2025.
