Public administration of the sphere of prevention of social poverty in Ukraine in the context of the implementation of the principles of deinstitutionalization ; Управління сферою запобігання соціальному сирітству в Україні у контексті впровадження принципів деінституціалізації
Problem setting. The issues of preventing social orphanhood, developing new and reforming existing social services for children and families with children have become a major focus in academia and in various structures at all levels working with children. Improving the quality of life of children is not only a matter of time, but also its need. Progressive world processes for the protection of the rights of the child, declared by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stimulate major changes in legislation, policies and practices for supporting and protecting children. Such targeted actions are widespread in many countries of the world. Today, Ukraine is taking the first steps towards deinstitutionalization and creating its own model of social service formation, which will become the basis for preventing social orphanage among children. The article analyzes the existing model of managing the sphere of protection of children's rights in the context of preventing social orphanage and implementing the principles of DI reform (deinstitutionalization).Today, in the context of transformational changes, Ukraine has faced significant socio-economic problems that have led to a decrease in the standard of living of Ukrainian families, the emergence of such negative phenomena as social orphanhood, child homelessness and a number of other manifestations. The resolution of these issues has also recently become more complicated due to hostilities in the East of our country conducting by the Russian Federation. In this context, it is important to focus on the problems of providing social guarantees and social protection for children of vulnerable categories, creating conditions for their adaptation in a complex social environment. Exactly in the context of these aspects arises a need for a significant improvement in the public administration system, in particular in sphere of organizing effective social work with children, as well as increasing the effectiveness of the social function of the state in total.Recent research and publications analysis. Nowadays, such scientists as V. Sobchenko, V. Moskalenko, V. Skuratovsky, O. Paliy, E. Libanova are studying and researching the problems and modern approaches to the development of the sphere of social protection of the population. Studies of reforming and improving the system of social services in general, and services for children and families with children, in particular, are engaged such Ukrainian researchers as L. Volynets, N. Komarov, O. Antonova-Turchenko, I. Ivanova, I. Pesha, A. Kapska, I. Pinchuk, S. Tolstoukhova, M. Lukashevich, I. Mygovich. Issues of implementation of institutional care and childcare reform are engaged T. Veretenko, O. Denesyuk, T. Spirina.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. However, it should be noted that the current state of scientific development of the problem of modernization the activities of public administration bodies in the field of social work with children of vulnerable categories and families with children in Ukraine is insufficient, since today this area is in the process of reforming. The sources of conducted scientific researches were mainly concerned certain aspects of the functioning of public administration and the social security system of the population, partly work with children, namely: the history of formation and development, directions and forms of social work. Today, the issue of preventing social orphanage in the context of the implementation of the DI-reform principles is little explored and not discovered.Paper main body. Despite the rather significant interest of scientists in the problems of managing the social sphere in Ukraine, there are still insufficiently developed approaches to the activities of government bodies and local self-government, as well as non-governmental organizations in the field of social work with children of vulnerable categories and deinstitutionalization processes, their practical implementation in terms of interagency cooperation , institutional and resource support, transformation of the network of social institutions and institutions involved in problems of vulnerable categories of children. Considering this, the topic is relevant and needs a deeper study.An analysis of the legislation on the protection of the rights and interests of children shows that the concept of social protection is often interpreted as a similar to the social security concept. The concept of social protection of children is much more widely interpreted in the Law of Ukraine "On bodies and services for children and special institutions for children": it is a complex of measures and means of socio-economic and legal character for ensuring children's rights to life, development, upbringing, education, medical care, financial support.A number of scientists accentuate on the concept of the so-called hidden social orphanhood, which is associated with the deterioration of the family's living conditions and the decline of its moral foundations, resulting in a growing neglect of a huge number of children and adolescents. Hidden social orphanhood is spreading in the form of institutionalization of children whose parents for various reasons are not able to provide them with proper care and upbringing at home. Consequently, hidden social orphanhood is hiding in outwardly normal families, which in reality are dysfunctional, and parents do not cope with their basic responsibilities for raising children.Thus, social orphanhood can be defined as a social phenomenon caused by the self-willed evasion of parents from fulfilling their parental duties responsibilities for the child, which is accompanied by the breaking and loss of family relations between parents and a child, the parental indifference to the child's needs and the future fate of the child.Practical experience and international experience show that only a small number of children need specialized hospital care and approaches to education. Such care should be provided in small individual institutions that are integrated into the life of the local community with the ability to apply inclusive education components. All other children should be excluded from social isolation and brought up in a family or close to family environment and attend educational institutions in the system of inclusive education.The process of reforming the current system of institutional care (deinstitutionalization) in the field of protection of children's rights should be a long-term, well-planned and structured process of reforming the child care system based on the principle of taking into account the best interests of the child, recognizing the priority of family education over placement in the state guardianship institutions. During such reforms, the family should receive clear government standards for social services:– services and assistance that will contribute to its preservation for the purpose of full-fledged child development;– adoption or family forms of alternative care become a priority for the placement of children who have lost parental care due to orphancy, living in difficult life circumstances, violence or neglect from their parents side;– institutions are redeployed into specialist care centers (family and child support) or closed.The main problems of deinstitutionalization mechanism implementation today are:– developing a common vision and a holistic approach to reforming the current system of institutional care, education and upbringing of children, both at the national level and at the level of territorial communities;– the lack of an interdisciplinary algorithm of interaction, interdepartmental and intersectoral coordination of actions and cooperation, the lack of a training system for specialists, including heads of institutions of various departmental subordination, parental support programs, despite the fact that the basic mechanism is just beginning to be developed.Today, the development of a strategic deinstitutionalization program requires the involvement of partners from all possible areas: social, educational, healthcare, civil society institutions and the parent community. An additional advantage of attracting partners from different disciplines and industries is an increase in the availability of resources for the implementation of the deinstitutionalization program. A list of tasks should be the creation of conditions to ensure the realization of the right of every child to raise a family, to prevent the spread of social orphanhood.Achieving this goal requires resolving the following key tasks: – improving the activities of guardianship and care services for the prevention of social orphanhood, providing families with children with high-quality social services aimed at supporting the family's educational function;– involvement of enterprises, institutions, organizations, regardless of ownership and management, in the provision of social, rehabilitation services to children and families with children in difficult life circumstances, introduction of a social order mechanism in this field;– forming a tolerant attitude of society towards children and families with children who are in difficult circumstances, preventing various forms of discrimination against such children and families;– introduction of new social technologies aimed at early identification of families with children who are in difficult life circumstances, raising responsible paternity, and preventing cases of the taking of a child from parents without depriving them of their parental rights;– improving the quality of social services provided by social work entities to children and families with children who are in difficult life circumstances;– introduction of social services for parents, whose children are being brought up in boarding schools, in order to create conditions for the return of the child to parents;– introduction of social services for children to prepare them for return to the biological family after a long stay in a boarding school;– introduction of social services for families with children, in which the process of parents' divorce is ongoing, resolves the dispute between the mother and the father regarding the place of residence of the children, participation in their upbringing;– providing social support for parents who for certain reasons (due to long-term illness, disability, poverty, unemployment, etc.), are unable to properly maintain and care for the child, families with children with special needs family members, as well as social support for children whose parents are labor migrants;– providing social support for parents from whom children were taken away without depriving them of parental rights, as well as parents deprived of parental rights and intend to bring a lawsuit to renew parental rights (if their children are not adopted), in order to create conditions for restoring the educational function of the family and returning the child to parents;– provision of information to the population about the types of social services and benefits provided by the subjects of social work with families with children.Further long-term decisions for deinstitutionalization should include:– managed transitional stage with definition of clear terms for its duration;– approval of legislation requirements, services that should be provided at the local level;– approval in the legislation of the requirement on the personal responsibility of the community leader for the provision / non-provision of social services in the field of childhood protection;– redistribution of resources and introduction of an interdisciplinary approach to services at the local level;– helping families;– consultations with organizations representing the interests of persons with disabilities, children with disabilities, their parents and guardians.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. Thus, Ukraine's course towards European integration and implementation of the UN Convention requires a revision of the priorities of state policy in the field of social protection of children and families with children, protection of childhood and the rights of children in general, the introduction of successful approaches from the world practice of protecting children based on ensuring the rights and best interests of the child are aimed at supporting the family, creating conditions for the upbringing and development of children in the family or environment as close as possible to the family will definitely contribute to the gradual disappearance of such phenomena as social orphanhood.Despite all efforts of the state, today in Ukraine the share of orphans and children deprived of parental care remains quite high, as well as the share of children-social orphans, which indicates the necessity of organizing measures in order to transform the child support system into a family form of education and changes in the nationwide trend of childcare. ; Розглянуто питання запобігання соціальному сирітству, розвиток нових та реформування існуючих соціальних послуг для дітей та сімей із дітьми, що стали привертати значну увагу в наукових колах та різноманітних структурах усіх рівнів, які працюють із дітьми. Зазначено, що підвищення якості життя дітей є не лише питанням часу, а його велінням. Проаналізовано прогресивні світові процеси стосовно захисту прав дітей, зумовлені Конвенцією ООН "Про права дитини", які стимулюють суттєві зміни в законах, політиці та практиці підтримки та захисту дитинства. Зауважено, що такі цілеспрямовані дії суттєво поширюються в багатьох державах світу. Доведено, що на сьогодні Україна робить перші кроки у напрямку деінституціалізації та створення власної моделі формування соціальних послуг, яка стане основою запобігання соціальному сирітству серед дітей. Проаналізовано існуючу модель управління сферою захисту прав дітей у контексті запобігання соціальному сирітству та впровадження принципів ДІ-реформи.