Children’s support
The Ocalenie Foundation works on behalf of migrant and refugee children and youth. We strive to provide young people with safe conditions for learning, entertainment and individual development. We run day care centers and a tutoring and scholarship program. Children receive psychological and psychiatric assistance, and extend integration support to entire families. We strive to ensure that foreign children have the same educational and developmental opportunities as their Polish peers.
Tutoring program
Since 2018, in cooperation with the BNP Paribas Foundation, we have run the tutoring program Knowledge to the Max, which aims to support the education of children and young people from refugee families, primarily those with learning difficulties and at risk of dropping out.
Young people participating in the program receive learning support in the form of individual meetings with a volunteer tutor, and, if necessary, private lessons and group classes to prepare for the high school diploma and the 8th-grade exam. They also participate in workshops, integration meetings, and joint educational and cultural outings. Education specialists are in constant contact with the families of children in the program, offering them the necessary support.
In the 2025/2026 school year, 100 children are participating in the program, and 29 of them are receiving scholarships to cover education-related costs.
Day care center
We operate a multicultural day care center in Warsaw, located at the MAL (Place of Local Activity). It is open to all children with a migration background, including refugees.
At the center, children receive daily support and care, help with their studies, and psychological assistance. Our primary goal is to support them in their education – the youngest learn Polish with us, prepare for school classes, and receive individual tutoring if needed. They also have access to psychological help and participate in cultural outings and developmental activities.
The center at MAL is the last of four Warsaw-based day care centers opened following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These centers were a natural extension of the emergency interventions launched by the foundation in 2022, such as child-friendly spaces at reception points, educational hubs, and day care facilities located in accommodation centers for people from Ukraine. Between March 2022 and the end of 2023, over ten thousand children fleeing the war benefited from these services.
For over 10 years, the Foundation also ran a multicultural day care center in Łomża, which provided integration and educational support to children with migration and refugee experience, mainly from Chechnya, Ukraine, and Belarus. The day care center was closed in mid-2024 due to a lack of funding.
Watch a video from the day care center!
Other forms of children’s support
In September, we provide children from our regular programs with school supplies, and in December, with holiday gifts. In addition to the educational programs dedicated to them, young people also receive material aid, have access to psychological and psychiatric consultations, participate in the Welcome Home residential integration program, and receive medical, material, and legal assistance at the Polish-Belarusian border.
ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN ARE SUPPORTED BY
