DENVER — A Ukrainian family escaping war is resettling in Broomfield after arriving on Tuesday into Denver International Airport (DIA).
Oksana Kovalenko spent nearly two months working to get her seven loved ones to the United States safely. She encountered multiple obstacles as she worked to get them out of the war zone. They fled Ukraine after the war began and stayed at a refugee camp in Poland for several months.
In order to bring her family to the U.S., she had to complete paperwork to approve their stay. Because the federal government still has not granted them refugee status, each Ukrainian who arrives in a country is considered a visiting "guest" by the relatives or loved ones who host them.
"It’s just complicated, challenging," said Kovalenko. "It’s not like it’s my field of work that I know all the ins and outs and the loopholes."
It took about two weeks from submitting the paperwork for her family to receive authorization to come to the United States. In order for the authorization to be approved, each Ukrainian family needs to be sponsored privately by relatives or others. In this case, Kovalenko spent thousands of her own own money to get her family to the states.
When they reunited, Kovalenko saw her aunt for the first time in 25 or 30 years. She met some of her cousins for the first time on their arrival to DIA.
Their next step is to help them gain their independence with employment authorization, getting a social security card, getting their driver's license and continuing education for the children in the family.
The Broomfield Resettlement Task Force with its volunteers will help them with documents, as well as settling in.
"Just like with our other families, we will be assessing their needs. Their needs are going to be much higher than the Afghan population as far as federal support because they just don’t have those federal dollars," said Broomfield Councilwoman Heidi Henkel who also volunteers on the task force.
The task force will also help them register into programs like ESL programs and provide other resources for them independently, because they are not eligible for federal resources or assistance.
"Until policy changes and they are treated as refugees and not just privately sponsored visitors, every single Ukrainian that comes to this country will face these challenges," said Kovalenko. "They themselves will feel this uphill battle because they don’t feel like they are being supported as a refugee of war."
The family is in need of financial donations. If you would like to donate, click here.
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