But it’s not always children waiting on a father who may not return. Recent reporting has shed light on the number of missing – and often abducted – Ukrainian children. (Top photo: Ukrainian children dance in Romania earlier this month. The event was designed to show solidarity with Ukraine.)
Approximately 35,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russian forces, The Guardian reports. Not only that, but the children are being sent to military camps and are being adopted by Russian families. Multiple families have come out sharing their experiences – either losing their child or the child being held by Russia.
The research regarding the children comes from the Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab, which has been tracking the missing. They are calling for assistance in recovering the children and returning them to their homes.
This could be the largest child abduction seen in war since World War II, the Yale staff reports.
Chelsea Sobolik, director of government relations at World Relief, spoke with Jody Hice on Washington Watch about what Russia has done to these children.
“Russia is claiming that they're the humanitarians, that they're the ones coming and helping these vulnerable children find new homes and that they are taking care of them,” Sobolik says.
Instead, it’s just the opposite. Russia has illegally abducted thousands of kids, Sobolik says.
In response, Russia accuses Ukraine of “staging a show on the topic of lost children,” The Guardian reports.
From childhood to battle
“They're subjecting them to military training, political re-education, and illegal forced adoption,” Sobolik says. “All of this should matter to Americans and should matter to Christians because we believe in the importance and value of family.”
The BBC reports that more than 124,000 Russian troops have died in the war. Some estimates are higher.
Sobolik says that, during times of war, the most vulnerable, like children, pay the price. She confirmed that there is an online catalog for the abducted children designed to assist with adoption.
She reports that children as young as a couple of months to teenagers are being abducted and many sent to prepare for military service.
“I've actually chatted with a young man, who's now a legal adult, but he was 15-16 and was subjected to military training in Russia. And I've chatted with his mom and got to hear what it was like for her,” Sobolik reveals.
She says there are multiple international laws that outline children rights and how children are supposed to be treated during war.
“For Russia to illegally abduct across a border a child, much less subject them to a forced adoption. They're changing their paperwork, changing their names. It's all highly, highly illegal,” Sobolik states.
She emphasizes that these Ukrainian children, whether they have family or not, belong in their home country. The children with family should be returned to said family, and children without family still need to be returned to their homeland so their community can take care of them.
The global/international community recognizes that those statements are false, Sobolik says.
“There's a bipartisan resolution in Congress right now led by Chuck Grassley (in the Senate) and Don Bacon in the House, calling what is happening to the children an atrocity… And the global community is watching, paying attention, and calling out what they're doing to the vulnerable children,” Sobolik states.
There are small-scale efforts to assist
Along with the Yale humanitarian lab that tracks the abducted children, there are also small-scale groups working to rescue a couple to a dozen children at a time.
“It's not at the scale that we've been asking for, which is full return of all the children in a peace negotiation, which is what we are asking for and continuing to ask for,” Sobolik says.
Furthermore, Sobolik urges that this is why all government pay attention to this problem. It not as simple as removing children across borders as Russia has set them up with new identities.
In 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, both had arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
"On the basis of evidence collected and analysed by my Office pursuant to its independent investigations, the Pre-Trial Chamber has confirmed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that President Putin and Ms Lvova-Belova bear criminal responsibility for the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, wrote ICC prosecutor Karim Khan.
(Left photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova at the Kremlin, in Moscow.)
Family Research Council (FRC), she says, has been at the forefront of bringing awareness to this important issue as it has bypassed mainstream media. And according to her, World Relief sent a letter along with faith leaders to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to bring their attention to this matter and work on recovering these children in peace negotiations.
“Within less than a week, we actually met with some senior officials at the State Department. FRC was well represented at that meeting. I was very grateful for the quick response to that, and the administration is aware of this issue. They've been aware of this issue for months,” Sobolik informs.
She said that most important development since then was Trump delivering a letter to Vladamir Putin during the Alaska Summit. It was from Melania Trump, written on behalf of the missing children.
“I think next steps, we're continuing to encourage this administration, encourage the global community to not forget about the kids, that in a peace negotiation, in a peace deal, that the children's quick and safe return is one of the top priorities,” says Sobolik.
The best way to engage, Sobolik said, is to pray for the children and for those trying to help them and to encourage members of Congress to co-sponsor the resolution.
Travis Weber, FRC’s vice president for policy and government affairs, says it’s important to see things from God’s perspective of the family unit.
“Parents are given by God the governing authority for their children, and I think sometimes we slip into viewing the family as just a way that civil government can look at it as a social ordering element as another piece of society,” says Weber.
This is seen, he said, with the arguments society has regarding marriage and family, like parental rights.
“This issue shows us the importance of the family as a governing unit instituted by God. Everywhere around the world, in this case Ukraine – you see the tearing of that fabric,” Weber explains.
How Christians can help
Christians have a role to help.
“Our follow-up is to continue to engage the administration on this and Congress where we can and highlight the opportunity that the president has to defend family in this case, along with faith and freedom around the world as he engages with other government leaders and bilateral discussions,” says Weber.
Weber said that with all the overwhelming news in the world this is an issue he feels is important to pray to God to ask for guidance.
“As the Lord leads, we engage because this is ultimately God's work. He will defend, and we know he will bring an ultimate accounting. So, we're just helping shed light on these things from his perspective,” Weber concludes.
