Finding a Ukrainian tutor or childcare without getting burned
How to check someone who will teach or mind your child, what the organised routes are, and why "nanny wanted" ads are one of the patterns worth treating with suspicion — in both directions.
Checked August 17, 20262 primary sources
Two of the commonest requests in any Ukrainian group abroad: can anyone recommend a tutor for my daughter’s Ukrainian, and does anyone know a Ukrainian nanny.
We do not list either, and we will not — this page explains what to do instead, which is mostly about checking, and about knowing which routes carry the checking for you.
We are not vouching for anyone here. Nothing on this page is a recommendation of a person or a service, and none of it is legal or employment advice.
Start with the organised routes, because they carry the safeguarding
A Saturday school or a verified education centre has something no individual advertiser has: someone accountable above the person in the room, and usually a safeguarding policy that already exists.
- Verified education centres. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs run a verification process for Ukrainian Saturday and Sunday schools abroad, and publish the list of those that passed. That list is on where to look, and it is the closest thing that exists to a state-checked answer.
- The International Ukrainian School for the curriculum itself — see keeping Ukrainian in the family.
- A parish or a Plast/CYM branch. Often has a children’s programme, and the community around it is the informal reference network you would otherwise lack.
If one of these exists near you, it is almost always the better answer than an individual — cheaper too, usually, and your child meets other children rather than sitting one-to-one.
If you are hiring an individual anyway
Sometimes there is no centre within reach. Then the checking is yours to do, and it is worth doing properly rather than apologetically.
Ask for the checks your country actually has. Most countries have a criminal-record check for people working with children — a DBS certificate in the UK, a police clearance or vulnerable-sector check in Canada, a Führungszeugnis in Germany, and equivalents elsewhere. A professional will have one or will get one without offence. Anyone who treats the question as an insult has told you something.
Take up references, and actually telephone them. Two families, not one, and ideally one whose engagement has ended. A written reference proves nothing; a five-minute call reveals a great deal.
Meet in a public place first, and let your child meet them with you present before anyone is left alone with them.
Ask what happens if it goes wrong. For tutoring: what if the child hates it. For care: what insurance is in place, what happens in an emergency, who else has keys.
Know when you have become an employer. In most countries, engaging a regular nanny makes you one — with tax, contract and insurance obligations. Get that wrong and the problem is yours, not theirs. This is a genuine question for local advice, not for a website.
The pattern to be suspicious of, in both directions
Domestic-work and childcare adverts are one of the standard recruitment channels for trafficking and exploitation, and displaced Ukrainian women are a targeted group. That cuts two ways, and both are worth naming plainly.
If you are hiring: be wary of anyone offering to start immediately with no references, no paperwork and cash only, or of intermediaries who “place” carers for a fee and discourage you from speaking to the family before you.
If you are answering an advert: treat as serious warning signs any offer that involves travelling to another city or country to start, an employer who wants to hold your documents, an arrangement with no written terms, accommodation tied to the job in a place you have not seen, or pressure to decide today. None of those is normal in a legitimate hire, and each appears in the scams that target Ukrainians abroad.
Tell someone where you are going and who you are meeting. That single habit defeats most of it.
Why we do not publish a list
We could put up a page of tutors and carers tomorrow, and it would be popular.
It would also be a promise we cannot keep. Listing someone implies we checked them, and checking a person who will be alone with a child means criminal-record checks, references and insurance, per person, kept current — a licensed business, not a page maintained monthly. A directory whose entries are unverified is not neutral in this context; it is a place where the exact patterns above find their audience.
So we teach the checking instead, and we point at organisations that carry it. If a Ukrainian organisation near you maintains a vetted list under its own safeguarding, we will happily link to it — their checks, their accountability. Tell us and we will look.
Where to check
The Ministry of Education’s verification list and the school itself are the authorities on any centre. For employment obligations and criminal-record checks, the authority is your own country — those are the rules of where you live, not of Ukraine. If something here is out of date, tell us.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you publish a list of Ukrainian tutors or nannies?
- No, and we will not. Listing someone implies we checked them, and checking a person who will be alone with a child means criminal-record checks, references and insurance, per person, kept current — that is a licensed business, not a page maintained monthly. A directory of unverified entries is not neutral in this context; it is where the recruitment patterns we warn about find their audience.
- What should I ask before hiring an individual?
- For the criminal-record check your country actually has — a DBS certificate in the UK, a police or vulnerable-sector check in Canada, a Führungszeugnis in Germany. For two references, telephoned rather than read. For a first meeting in a public place, with your child meeting them while you are present. For what happens in an emergency and who else has keys. And find out whether engaging someone regularly makes you an employer, with tax, contract and insurance obligations — in most countries it does.
- Is there any checked list of Ukrainian schools abroad?
- Yes. The Ministry of Education and the MFA run a verification process for Ukrainian Saturday and Sunday schools abroad and publish the list of those that passed — the closest thing that exists to a state-checked answer, and it is on our "where to look" page. An organised route also carries safeguarding that an individual advertiser does not: someone accountable above the person in the room.
Where this comes from
The official pages this guide is based on. They are the authority — if one of them contradicts us, follow it and tell us.
Written by the Sunflower UA team for Ukrainians living abroad who still carry responsibilities at home. Every figure is sourced and dated; procedures link to the agency that publishes them.
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