TURNER, Maine — Andrew and Chelsea Davies host orphaned 12-year-old twins from Ukraine during their summer and winter school breaks. Through all of this, they have become part of the family.
"Even to our daughter they're like big brothers," Andrew Davies said. "She loves playing with them, our dogs love them."
The Davies' have been working to try to get the boys here since the war started. and a month later, they are urging Congress to grant these children visas.
"I think there's a lot of issues people worry about trafficking, they worry about us trying to expedite adoptions, and that's not what we're trying to do right now we're only asking for the kids who are known orphans. They're not war orphans they've already been hosted here in the united states with these families," Chelsea Davies said.
When NEWS CENTER Maine first met the Davies' in March, they said approximately 100,000 children had been identified as orphans in Ukraine -- a number estimated before the Russian invasion -- for reasons that include mass poverty and alcoholism, according to the Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI).
According to a nonprofit called Orphans Hope, about 20 percent of the children who are identified as orphans in Ukraine have parents who have died, whereas about 80 percent of the children are considered social orphans. Social orphans come from abandonment, abuse, and violence, with parents who were drug addicts or alcoholics.
The twin boys the Davies' host are in the 20 percent who have no living family. Their older has not been able to visit the Davies family because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
"They're easy to love," Chelsea said.
As the war in Ukraine continues, Andrew and Chelsea worry about all three boys, who they talk about as though they are their own children.
"When the sirens go off, they have to run down to the bunker and the bomb shelter, and that happens multiple times a day," Chelsea said.
Two of the boys were together at the time of the Russian invasion, but one was living at a different orphanage. For privacy reasons, they are referred to only by their first initials.
A has been with his older brother, M, but D has been on his own.
"D will message us and say he's scared, and he's nervous about everything that's going on. And he doesn't want to die and doesn't want to lose everyone over there. And it's tough getting those messages from a 12-year-old boy in that situation," Andrew said.
"But in the next breath he says, 'Mommy, it's gonna be OK, so don't cry for us. We're alive right now,'" Chelsea added.
The Davies family is doing whatever they can to get the boys out of harm's way, including working with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins' office to try to get the boys emergency visas. But that's hard to do with the airports in Ukraine closed because of the war.
"That's the biggest hurdle first, getting them to a safer country, and there's really not a whole lot we can do for that," Chelsea said.
The Davies have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for airfare and any emergency visas the boys may need with the hopes of being reunited, safely.
Andrew and Chelsea have hosted the boys through two different organizations, Host Orphans Worldwide and LifeLine Family. The Davies said they would encourage anyone who is interested to do the same.