A couple who claim to be one of the first families to volunteer to host a Ukrainian refugee have warned that the scheme is "open to exploitation". They said that the woman they had sponsored was left to her own devices at a busy airport and little guidance was given about the scheme prior to her arrival.
Steph and Joe Venables welcomed Nataliia, a refugee from Chernivtsi in Ukraine, into their home near Wrexham at the start of April and say she has started to settle, learn more English and look for a job. They said they applied for the scheme within ours of launch and believe they are one of Wales' first host families.
But Mr and Mrs Venables are worried that the Homes for Ukraine system could be exploited by people with sinister intentions. Mr Venables said: “When she got to the airport, she came through the doors and could’ve gone anywhere. Nobody from the visa office or anything came through to check that we were who we said we were." Read more: 'I can give my Ukrainian friend and her five-year-old daughter a home and safety in Swansea but the system is slow and shameful to Britain'
“Nataliia came all this way based on trust. There’s a lot of people who will see this as an opportunity to take advantage of vulnerable people. But the more people who see how easy it is to actually offer help, my theory is that will make it harder for the bad people to take advantage because there will already be too many good people offering.”
Nataliia left behind a new hair salon that she opened up only four months ago. Her daughter lives in America but does not have American citizenship, meaning Nataliia could not join her there. Nataliia’s 77-year-old mother could not travel with her due to bad health and remains in Ukraine.
Mr Venables said: “I don’t think she actually wanted to leave. It’s that older generation mindset of: ‘I was born here, I’m dying here.’ But Nataliia is in constant contact with her mum and has neighbours checking on hr – she actually still works as a maths teacher. I don’t think Nataliia has any plans to return to Ukraine. I don’t think many people know what they’re going back to.”
Mr and Mrs Venables have been working with the charity Link International to advise families looking to host Ukrainian refugees. The charity works with North Wales’ councils, third sector organisations and the Welsh Government to advise potential host families.
Rev Tim Hall, the founding director of Link International, said: “A week or so after the war had started, we began to see refugees fleeing and gathering at borders. The conversation in North Wales became: ‘What can we do here?’
“The answer is that we can prepare to welcome the Ukrainians into the community when they arrive and help them really integrate into those communities. We did a webinar to explain what we were doing, and about 150 people logged in – from Holyhead through to Wrexham and further south. I thought that was pretty amazing.”
The charity’s work has meant that community hubs originally set up to support North Wales’ Covid response are now being used to provide interpreters and counsellors to Ukrainians.
Mrs Venables said: “Wrexham Council picked their feet up fairly quickly and within a week sent someone round to assess the property for suitability. The fire service had been round to check safety and gas certificates, then a health visitor had been round to set her up with the GP.”
But she warned: “If the host family doesn’t contact the doctors and let them know they have a Ukrainian family with them, the doctors won’t know to do the visit. It’s something maybe not everyone is aware of.
As well as working to find a bank that would help Nataliia open an account and register her for Universal Credit, Mr and Mrs Venables are pushing to find a job that suits her skills.
Mr Venables said: “We’re trying to do the best for Nataliia. She’s got a load of skills that will give her a good job if she wants it. She’s a very well-qualified hairdresser and she’s got a culinary diploma. I feel that the Jobcentre just want her to take any job because that’s what they’re trained to do – get people in work, whatever the work is.”
Mr and Mrs Venables warned that other families might find it more difficult to get to the UK. Mr Venables said: “Natalia met a young lady with two children while she was in Poznań who wanted to come over to the UK, so we’ve managed to find somebody for them to live with.
“But Nataliia was a single person with a passport, and this lady doesn’t have a passport and has two kids. It took three hours one night and we were up past midnight. She then had to go to a centre to do her biometrics but she couldn’t book that appointment until the application was completed.”
He added: “It’s been a slow three weeks but Nataliia is becoming very comfortable and has repeatedly said that she feels like she’s one of the family. If we go out for a meal, she comes with us.”
Mrs Venables joked: “We don’t force her to! But the offer’s there, and we try to make her feel like she’s able to do everything that we do.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “The Homes for Ukraine scheme has been designed with specific safeguards in place, including robust security and background checks on all sponsors.
“Councils must make at least one in-person visit to a sponsor’s property and they have a duty to make sure the guest is safe and well once they’ve arrived.”
