Because of the war, families can break up. Some children from Ukraine come to the Netherlands on their own. Who will take them in and where can they go?

Nidos is an independent institution who is responsible for providing guardianship to unaccompanied and separated children who arrive in the Netherlands without caretakers. The professionals of Nidos meet children when they arrive, to inform them and to organize placement at a reception center. For children under the age of 15, they arrange forster families.

Each asylum seekers' center (azc) in the Netherlands has appointed at least one employee as the 'contact person for children'. This employee is responsible for organizing activities for the children and providing information to and about children.

In the Netherlands, children aged 0-18 years are vaccinated against a number of infectious diseases, free of charge. Ukrainian refugee children must be vaccinated against polio, measles and rubella as soon as possible upon arrival in the Netherlands. Pharos’s website provides more information about health risks and vaccinations. There are also several links to other websites with more information.

Children between the ages of 0 and 4 years can go to daycare. Children aged 4-12 can go to an after-school care center. This facility is provided after regular school hours. For children from 2 to 4 years there are preschool facilities. Children can also be taken care of by a guest parent. Daycare is not cheap. To cover your costs you can apply for childcare allowance in some cases. You will receive the allowance as an advance payment. If you apply for childcare allowance you must meet the following conditions.

If you are not entitled to childcare benefits, you may be able to get a childcare benefit through the municipality. Toddlers can receive toddler care for a number of hours a week if your toddler has a language deficiency (or a risk of one). The municipality can provide an indication for preschool education. This means that your child can attend preschool for an average of 16 hours a week. It offers a program that stimulates (language) development. In addition, the municipality can provide a social medical indication (SMI), to cover the costs of childcare where necessary. Would you like more information? Please contact the municipality.

Children can attend school from the age of 4. Under the section education for children on this website, you will find more information about this.

Childcare allowance is a contribution to the cost of childcare for working or studying parents. You must meet certain conditions to apply for this allowance. Here you can read briefly if you qualify for the childcare allowance. You can also read the conditions on the website of thebelastingdienst.

• The most important condition is that you earn money from work and pay taxes over it. If you do not earn money with the work on which you pay taxes, then it does not count as work. For example: volunteer work or a caregiver.

• In addition, your child is going to a registered daycare. The municipality checks whether the care is good and safe. Approved care is registered in the National Childcare Register (LRK) and has an LRK number. Without this number, you cannot apply for childcare allowance.

• You always pay part of the cost of child care yourself. You can pay one part of the costs with the childcare allowance. The other part you have to pay yourself. That is the mandatory co-payment.

Child benefit is a contribution towards your child's maintenance costs. If you live in the Netherlands and have one or more children under the age of 18, you may be entitled to child benefit. Do you want to know whether you are entitled to child benefit or do you have another question about child benefits? Please contact the Sociale Verzekeringsbank.

The child budget is a contribution that comes on top of the child benefit. For the child budget, your and your partner's income must not be too high and you must meet some requirements. Want to know if you are entitled to the child budget? Then check the website of the Belastingdienst for the conditions and all relevant information. Would you like to apply for child budget? You can do so through the website of the Belastingdienst.

Do you suspect that a child is being mistreated or is in danger? On the website of the national government several possible actions are listed.

Stichting babyspullen provides boxes of baby supplies to parents in need.

Requests can not be made directly to the organization, but can to be made (from 20 weeks of pregnancy onwards) to care providers, obstetricians or maternity care organizations. They will transmit the request to Stichting Babyspullen.

In most supermarkets and drugstores, such as Etos, Kruidvat, DA drugstore, you can buy diapers and baby milk. The powdered milk available in Dutch stores is completely safe for your baby.

At some shelter locations, volunteer activities are organized through initiatives such as TeamUp (sports activities for children), Time4You (advocacy for children) and Stichting de Vrolijkheid (creative activities). Please check with your shelter for all the options.

The Nederlandse Reddingsbrigade (Dutch Rescue Association) has made two leaflets in Ukrainian about what you should take into account when you go swimming. There is a leaflet about swimming in the sea and a leaflet about swimming in a lake .