MEET VERONIQUE AND VALYA
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Valya, who was born in 2004, was found by officials living in the streets with a pack of dogs. At that point, she did not know how to speak or even how to eat like a human. Rather, she ate like a dog, straight out of her plate. She was brought into an orphanage for children with typical abilities. Unfortunately, because of her developmental delays, she caused the other children in the orphanage to regress, so she was taken to an orphanage for children with special needs.
Valya has cognitive delays, as well as difficulties with her attention span. She also had a medical problem with her intestines.
From the moment Petrova’s Promise learned of Valya, we worked diligently to get her out of the orphanage and into our loving care with a foster mother. It took years to complete this, as our idea of having a foster home in Russia for children with special needs (that was developed between an American NGO and a Russian NGO) was a brand-new concept in Russia. It was also very difficult to find the proper person to hire as her foster mother. She needed someone who was also very special with a huge heart.
First, we met a wonderful woman named Natalya, who offered to become Valya’s foster mother. We were so blessed! Sadly, we ended up having difficulty obtaining permission for Natalya to take guardianship of Valya. What started as a great disappointment for us, though, soon changed into a very happy situation! Natalya introduced us to her amazing sister Veronique, who told us she would love to become Valya’s foster mother! This meant that we had two potential foster mothers for kids, as Natalya could take a different child! We would be able to help two children!
As soon as Veronique met Valya, she fell in love with her and wanted to become her foster mother. Veronique lived far away from Moscow, in a quiet and beautiful village where she was a teacher. Because of her teaching duties, Veronique needed to continue to live in the Altay Region until the academic year was completed. The plan was to have Valya move with Veronique to the Altay Region until the end of the school year, then both of them were going to move to our flat in Moscow. In February of 2020, Valya moved out of the orphanage and into Veronique’s home.
Happily, Valya thrived in her small village with Veronique. She was so happy out in nature and made many friends. She was doing so well, growing and learning and catching up in all of her developmental skills, that it was decided it would be best for her to continue to live with Veronique in their village, rather than move to Moscow and the flat. Also, because of COVID, which began to spread in Russia, we felt it was safer for them to stay in their village.
She continues to be an extremely happy young girl who is continually working on catching up developmentally with all of her peers. Valya and Veronique love each other very much! Petrova’s Promise promises to continue to support this loving family as long as they need it and then even more!
09/2022 FAMILY UPDATES: Valya continues to grow and thrive under the care of Veronique. Valya is extremely happy living in the countryside with Veronique.