An app which helps children experiencing stress or worry has been translated into Ukrainian, and a ‘warm welcome’ website for refugee children has been launched in Denmark, UN OCHA´s Relief Web reports. This is a part of series of initiatives by Save the Children to support refugee children across Europe
The Safe Place app, designed by Save the Children Sweden, is targeted at children and young people who feel worried, scared or sad, and contains different exercises which can
feel calming or distracting. Developed with psychologists in Sweden, and also available in Swedish and English, the app was originally made in cooperation with refugee children from other conflicts. In March, it was translated into Ukrainian, to help support the more than 2 million children who have fled Ukraine in the past five weeks.
Warm welcome
In Denmark, where around 24,000 people have already applied for residency under the recent special law for refugees from Ukraine, with 2,000 applying for asylum, Save the Children Denmark this month launched a public website called “Warm Welcome”. The website is designed for children, refugee families, teachers, people working in daycare, volunteers, and hosting families, and provides practical information about how to settle into a new life in Denmark.
Across Europe, Save the Children teams are greeting refugee children and their families and providing them with immediate support upon arrival. Save the Children is running child-friendly spaces in reception areas and other migration hubs across Spain, Italy, Sweden, Romania and Germany, providing psycho-social support to children and a safe place to play while their parents seek essential services.
In the past week, while the pace of refugees leaving Ukraine has slowed slightly, there are still thousands crossing the border every day. More than 4 million people have now fled the country.
