Benefits for children with disabilities and their parents in 2025: list of benefits, rights and guarantees
The war created unprecedentedly difficult conditions for Ukrainian children, they are forced to live under the sound of sirens, evacuations, missile attacks and daily psychological stress. However, in the shadow of constant shelling there is another group of children who in the conditions of war need even more attention and care – these are children with disabilities. For them, the war has become a double challenge: along with the general security threat, special needs for treatment, rehabilitation, care and social support are added. Parents of children with disabilities, who even in peacetime found themselves faced with a difficult choice between work, earnings and constant care for their child, are now often completely forced to focus on providing for their vital needs. That is why the role of state support is of particular importance. In 2025, Ukrainian legislation provides for a number of important benefits, benefits and guarantees for children with disabilities and their families.
Legal basis: equality and protection
According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Ukraine ratified in 1991, all children, regardless of their health status, have equal rights. Ukrainian legislation also enshrines this principle in a number of laws and by-laws, in particular in the Law of Ukraine “On the Basics of Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities in Ukraine”.
A child with a disability has a complex of social, medical, educational and transport rights that apply to both him and his legal representatives – parents, guardians or custodians.
Children with disabilities under the age of 18 receive monthly state social assistance. In 2025, its amount will be 70% of the subsistence minimum for persons who have lost their ability to work. The allowance is assigned regardless of the financial status of the family and is paid until the child reaches the age of majority.
In addition, children with disabilities, orphans or those under care, after the age of 18 have the right to housing in accordance with the norms of Article 33 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Basics of Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities in Ukraine”.
Medical care and rehabilitation
Children with disabilities have the right to receive free of charge or on preferential terms:
- social and household services;
- medical products, rehabilitation aids (walkers, wheelchairs, orthopedic products);
- technical means of mobility — in particular, wheelchairs with an electric drive;
- cars (according to medical indications);
- free receipt of prescription drugs during outpatient treatment;
- sanatorium-resort treatment in the presence of appropriate medical recommendations.
Education and inclusive education
The state guarantees children with disabilities full access to education:
- the possibility of studying in general or special educational institutions;
- inclusive education in regular classes with the mandatory participation of a teacher’s assistant or a child’s assistant;
- creation of special conditions during the preparation of the external examination or the national multi-subject test;
- free education in music, visual arts, artistic and applied arts in general education or extracurricular art institutions (for gifted children with disabilities).
Priorities in everyday services
At the same time, children with disabilities have a priority right to:
- out-of-hours service in state institutions, banks, enterprises, hospitals, polyclinics;
- priority crossing of the borders of Ukraine during martial law or state of emergency;
- preferably passing control at checkpoints and when entering/exiting temporarily occupied territories.
Transport benefits
Children with disabilities and accompanying persons have the right to:
- free travel in city transport (except for taxis);
- 50% discount on air, rail, sea, road transport tickets within Ukraine in the period from October 1 to May 15;
- issuing a free electronic ticket (after launching the relevant fare accounting system).
Benefits for parents of children with disabilities
The state also provided for separate rights for parents:
- the right to reduced working hours for employees who have children under the age of 14 or a child with a disability;
- additional annual paid leave for parents who are raising a child or an adult child with a childhood disability of group I of subgroup A.
These guarantees allow parents to partially compensate for the additional amount of care they have to provide for their children.
Local assistance in communities
In addition to statewide benefits, many regions have additional local support programs. For example, in Sumy in 2025, one-time assistance for children with disabilities was introduced. It can be obtained by minors who are registered in the Sumy community, are internally displaced persons and are registered as of January 1, 2025. Such programs are encouraged by local self-government bodies to provide additional support to vulnerable categories of children during wartime.
In addition, one-time state payments are separately provided for children who have been diagnosed with serious diseases even before the establishment of official disability. In 2025, the amount of such assistance will be two subsistence minimums. In addition, some categories of persons with disabilities, depending on the degree of health impairment, may receive a one-time payment of up to 200,000 hryvnias.
During the war, the social policy for children with disabilities becomes one of the defining tests for the state. In conditions where many medical facilities have been destroyed, some specialists have gone abroad, and families with children are forced to evacuate or live in shelters, even basic access to rehabilitation, education and medicine is a real challenge. That is why the continuation and expansion of state and local support programs is not just a social function, but a necessary condition for preserving the health, development and future of children who have already experienced too much for their age.
