Characteristics of alternative forms of state care for orphan children and children deprived of parental care

• Main Author: A. R. Zablotskiy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kazimierz Wielki University 2020-11-01
• Series: Journal of Education, Health and Sport
• Subjects: orphans; adoption; custodianship/care; foster family; family-type orphanage; family foster care; small group home; deinstitutionalization; alternative care; alternative forms of public upbringing
• Online Access: https://apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/JEHS/article/view/35179

<pre><strong>Problem statement and purpose</strong>. Modern domestic society is </pre><pre>characterized by a number of negative phenomena –impoverishment, </pre><pre>unemployment, rising crime, mass labor migration both abroad and </pre><pre>internally, related to the occupation of Crimea and hostilities in </pre><pre>eastern Ukraine. All of them, directly or indirectly, cause disruption </pre><pre>of the structure and functioning of the family, which, in turn, leads </pre><pre>to an increase in the number of people such as orphans and children </pre><pre>deprived of parental care.</pre><pre>The system of social assistance and protection of this category of </pre><pre>children combines both traditional and alternative forms of state </pre><pre>care. Unfortunately, the reform of this system is too slow due to </pre><pre>various reasons of social and economic, social and political and </pre><pre>psychological and pedagogical nature. It is also worth noting that </pre><pre>nowadays only the scientific basis for its functioning is being </pre><pre>formed.Thus, Bader S., Bevz H., Vodyana O., Borysova V., </pre><pre>Volynets L., Kobzar B., Komarova N., Ivanova I., Petrochko J., </pre><pre>Kalibaba O., Makiychuk T., Orzhekhovska V., Pesh I., Piren M., </pre><pre>Polyanychko A., Trubavina I.  Turchyn O., Fedorova N., </pre><pre>Kharkhan G., Chervonyy Yu. and others,studied the </pre><pre>technologies of creation and organization of life of adoption </pre><pre>and foster families, as well as children's homes (as alternative </pre><pre>forms of state care), various aspects of stay and upbringing </pre><pre>of children in such families.The content of social and </pre><pre>pedagogical work in protection institutions and families where </pre><pre>children are under protection is reflected in the works of </pre><pre>domestic scientists: Bezpalko O., Hykava G., Zavgorodna T., </pre><pre>Evdakh K., Ivanova A., Kapska A., Kurlyak I., Maksymova N., </pre><pre>Naumenko T., Oleksyuk N., Pesh I., Sydorenko O., Chenbay I., </pre><pre>Yurchenko T., Yaskal L., Yashchenko N. and others.Despite the </pre><pre>wide and multifaceted scientific interest in this problem, the </pre><pre>peculiarities of the formation and operation of alternative </pre><pre>forms of care still remain unresolved.</pre><pre>That is why the <strong>purpose</strong> of our study is to characterize the </pre><pre>features of the functioning of alternative forms of care for </pre><pre>orphans and children deprived of parental care and to </pre><pre>determine the possibilities of their development.</pre><pre><strong>Research methods</strong>: to achieve this goal we used a set </pre><pre>of methods: theoretical (conceptual and comparative </pre><pre>analysis of philosophical, sociological, psychological and </pre><pre>pedagogical, scientific and methodological and reference </pre><pre>encyclopedic literature, regulatory and program </pre><pre>documentation on research topics to clarify the content of </pre><pre>basic concepts and study of the state of development of </pre><pre>the researched problem in theory and practice); empirical </pre><pre>(content analysis, questionnaires, pedagogical observation, </pre><pre>study and generalization of independent characteristics and </pre><pre>pedagogical experience, survey).</pre><pre><strong>Results</strong>. Based on the analysis of the scientific literature, </pre><pre>the essence of the concepts "adoption", "custodianship/ care", </pre><pre>"foster family", "family-type orphanage", "family patronage", </pre><pre>"small group home", "deinstitutionalization" and "alternative </pre><pre>care"is specified. Alternative forms of state protection of </pre><pre>children as a social phenomenon are characterized, the </pre><pre>relevance of deinstitutionalization and transformation of </pre><pre>services for children is substantiated.</pre>