Oleg Shelashskyi has been involved in ministry to orphans and vulnerable children for the last 18 years. He started his journey when he and his wife, Raya, became a transitional foster family for 10 teenage orphans at the Father’s House ministry in Ukraine. They adopted one of the children who lived with them.  

Oleg is a director of the International Leadership and Development Center (ILDC) in Ukraine, an organization that aims to strengthen and equip ministries and organizations to promote best practices in family-based care and child welfare. The ILDC’s approach features developing the capacity of leaders and staff at ministries and organizations working with orphans and vulnerable children. The ILDC is now the leading capacity-building organization in Ukraine. It offers training and professional skill development for foster and adoptive parents, caregivers, orphan care ministry staff and leaders, and social workers and supervisors at private and government agencies in Ukraine. It also trains trainers for the child welfare field, having delivered trainings to over 25,000 people during last 15 years.  

Oleg took an active part in founding and developing the national orphan care movement, called the Alliance for Ukraine Without Orphans, and served as its president for five years until 2021; Oleg is also a part of the World Without Orphans—Europe team that focuses on catalyzing the national orphan care movements of Christians in European countries.