By Mary PflumNBC
News
TAMPA, Fla. — When Roaya and Tony Tyson saw images of Ukrainian families fleeing their homeland in March, the couple took one look at their three-bedroom home in Tampa, Fla., and knew they had to do something.
"Some people were sending money," Roaya said.
"But we wanted to do more."
After searching the internet, the Tysons, who have no children, found the website of Spring of Life, a Ukrainian church based in Sacramento County, California, that has connected hundreds of Ukrainian families with American hosts. .
“We told them that we had room in our house for two or three people,” Roaya said.
“They told us they had a family of four.
So we said okay, bring them in!”
Two days later, Yuliia Venhlinska and her husband, Serhii Donet, arrived, along with their two sons, Max, 11, and Mark, 3, transforming the Tysons' once-quiet two-adult home into a bustling house of six.
A 10-minute drive from the Tysons' home, another Tampa home also grew larger.
John and Lisa Monaco, both doctors, decided to put the second floor of their house at the disposal of a Ukrainian family.
John and Lisa Monaco opened the doors of their Tampa home to Masha and Vladimir Halytska and the couple's three children.
"Now we have toys, strollers and shoes everywhere," John said.
"I love it!"Susan Morgan
Spring of Life Church put them in touch with Masha and Vladimir Halytska and their three children, Vasilisa, 11, Lev, 7, and Danylo, 3.
“Two weeks ago our house was empty and quiet,” said John, whose youngest son is in college.
“Now we have toys, strollers and shoes everywhere.
I love it!"
The Tysons and Monacos, like other host families, are learning to navigate a complicated resettlement system with their Ukrainian tenants.
[Ukraine declares the end of the battle for Mariupol and cedes control of the key port city to Russia]
On the one hand, American host families say the foster care has brought good things.
“I love having a loud and laughter-filled home,” said Lisa Monaco, noting that she has enjoyed teaching Vasilisa how to do crafts and transforming the family's garden into a soccer field for Lev.
"Every night we have a family dinner, the seven of us."
Masha and Vladimir Halytska fled their home in Dnipro, Ukraine, with their three young children after Russian bombs destroyed buildings in their neighborhood.Masha Halytska
On the other hand, there has been a mountain of paperwork, often overwhelming.
“It's not an easy process,” Roaya Tyson said of the experience of helping Venhlinska, Donet and their children settle in the United States.
“It has been incredibly difficult.
In many cases, you can't get a document if you don't have other documents, so it's been a dilemma."
The challenges are not unique, said Chris George, executive director of Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, a Connecticut-based refugee resettlement agency.
“Welcome and resettle refugees or people on humanitarian parole is not easy.
I can't imagine a person or couple doing this without help,” she said.
'They do not know what awaits them'
Under the United for Ukraine program, run by the Department of Homeland Security, up to 100,000 Ukrainians will be able to resettle in the United States under humanitarian parole, which is separate from the State Department's Refugee Admissions program.
Unlike that program, Ukrainians admitted on humanitarian parole will not receive the benefits of refugee status, which include work authorization, medical care and housing assistance.
In the fall, 78,000 Afghans came to the United States on humanitarian parole.
Congress provided emergency funding for Afghans to receive health care, housing allowances, and work visas.
Such assistance has not been provided to Ukrainian refugees.
That means, George said, that there is a considerable burden on individual American sponsors and families who decide to take in Ukrainian refugees because they lack the resources of the aid organizations that the government normally uses to resettle refugees.
Roaya and Tony Tyson say their three-bedroom home looked quiet and empty before taking in Ukrainian refugees Yuliia Venhlinska and Serhii Donet and the couple's two sons, Max, 11, and Mark, 3. Mary Pflum
“The current system puts too much pressure on sponsors,” George said.
“They are accepting the pressure willingly, but they honestly don't know where they are.
All these paperwork that is needed is very time-consuming: like enrolling children in school, finding medical care, helping them find jobs, helping them integrate into the community.”
[Mitch McConnell and a group of Republican senators meet with the President of Ukraine in kyiv]
In the case of Venhlinska and Masha Halytska and their families, Susan Morgan, a social worker from Florida, volunteered to help.
Morgan serves as a contact person for several Ukrainian families who have resettled in the United States.
"It's a lot of responsibility," Morgan said.
The long list of things Ukrainians must do to settle is considerable, according to Morgan.
In addition to state IDs, coming Ukrainians need help getting driver's licenses, applying for work visas, looking for affordable housing, finding children's schools and getting physicals.
Host families and sponsors must also take into account, Morgan said, the trauma that Ukrainians have endured.
“You are bringing a family that has left their home, their family,” Morgan said.
“They have suffered losses.
So even though a lot of times people are happy to get here, they're still experiencing trauma."
A complicated and uneven process
In the Halytskas' case, the family was forced to flee their home in Dnipro in the middle of the night when Russian bombs fell on their neighbourhood.
"The children were very scared," said Masha.
"They could hear the sirens all around them, see the smoke and buildings on fire."
The family fled with only a couple of bags and a ukulele.
They slept in the car for days before leaving the Ukraine.
Even the youngest children have experienced trauma, said Morgan, who noted that 3-year-old Mark from Venhlinska spent his first few weeks with the Tysons hidden under furniture, still fearful of Russian bombing.
Although it will be challenging for Ukrainians to resettle in the United States in the coming weeks and months, critics have pointed out that they
have received better treatment in some cases than other refugees seeking asylum here, particularly those along the Mexican border.
In many cases, the Ukrainians were able to get to the front of the line.
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“It is not the fault of the Ukrainians that they have sometimes received preferential treatment,” George said, noting that in many cases they have received better treatment than refugees from El Salvador, Honduras and Syria.
"We shouldn't blame them, but we should blame the people at the border for the way they force other people fleeing dangerous conditions to wait many months in dangerous situations."
George hopes the United for Ukraine program will implement an orientation and training course in the coming weeks to help Ukrainian refugees and host families navigate the resettlement process more smoothly.
“We have always believed in the ability of ordinary Americans to step up and welcome refugees, but ordinary Americans need help,” he said.
While they feel overwhelmed at times, for now, Venhlinska and Masha Halytska say they are happy to have made it to the United States.
"We feel safe now," Halytska said.
"Now we can breathe."
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Both mothers will enroll their children in Tampa-area public schools in the fall, and both families are awaiting work visas, which will likely take months.
"We want to work," said Venhlinska, who was a chemist in Ukraine.
“We don't want to be dependent on anyone for support, no matter how helpful the person is,” said Halytska, who worked as a nutritionist in Ukraine and whose husband owned and operated his own trucking company.
Their hosts say that no matter how daunting the resettlement process can be at times, they are happy to have opened their homes and hearts.
“Now I consider Yuliia a daughter,” said Roaya Tyson.
"It's really a gift," agreed John Monaco.
“They get to be in a safe home and we feel like we're doing something in what I consider to be a global war of good versus evil.
We feel that we are the grandparents, and the children and grandchildren are ours, who are back home”.
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