Directions For Prevention Of Social Orphanhood In Russia In Modern Economic Conditions

Abstract

One of the main tasks of the state in modern economic conditions is the protection of its citizens. Particular attention in modern society is paid to the "childish" part of it. The problem of preventing social orphanhood and the device of children without parental care is of particular relevance, because The task of saving the population and developing human potential under the influence of globalization factors is of paramount importance for the development of the state. In the process of preparing this publication, the authors analyzed the activities of regional authorities working with families and children in the field of preventing orphanhood, which showed that there are a number of tasks that require the development of a system of preventive measures; an assessment of the effectiveness of the ongoing directions for the prevention of social orphanage is given and, as measures to identify violations of the rights of the child in the early stages and updating plans for social support of the family, the following are proposed: optimization of the system of interaction between executive authorities and local governments, the introduction of organizational mechanisms and information support for prevention and protect the rights of children. To increase the effectiveness of activities for the prevention of social orphanage by the authors, a draft form of informational and methodological support for the activities of specialists to identify children in need of state protection, including a plan for social support of the family.

Keywords: Orphanhoodlegal regulationprotection of minors

Introduction

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) recognizes that “a child needs to grow up in a family environment for the full and harmonious development of his personality” (p. 32). The main function of the family is to support, so children who have a good loving family will open up great opportunities in the future. States that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child commit to provide the child with the protection and care necessary for his well-being. To this end, they take necessary measures (Kravchenko, Voitovska, & Koliada, 2019).

The legislative acts of the constituent entities of Russia contain more than twenty definitions of categories of children in socially dangerous situations. The main definitions are enshrined in the Federal Law “On the Basics of the System for the Prevention of Neglect and Juvenile Delinquency” dated June 24, 1999, No. 120-FZ (Government FR, 1999). It is this law that is fundamental when conducting research on this problem, since it clearly defines the provisions that correspond to the parameters of the studied problems.

The data of scientific research and practical work on the placement of children in families over the past 10 years (obtained in foster care organizations and family educational groups) show that the success of restoring the personal and family functioning of crisis families and the adaptation of children in foster families directly depends on stability and continuity and the quality of relations between parents and specialists of organizations with which they have to interact, therefore, conditions must be created for the formation of and maintaining the stability and quality of such relationships (Rosstat, 2019).

In any country there are always and will be orphans and children from dysfunctional families. This means that society and the state should take on great responsibility for their development and education (Volgin, 2014).

Problem Statement

At present, Russia is witnessing a transformation of economic conditions, as well as living conditions of the population. This is primarily determined by the change in the geopolitical situation, which contributed to an increase in the differentiation of the population by living standards (Rosstat, 2019). Secondly, changes in domestic politics contributed to a change in the social structure of society and caused an increase in manifestations of social orphanhood (Zharova, 2016). Currently, Russia does not have a conceptually verified system for protecting children, although much work is being done in the regions to prevent them. Despite all the measures taken, the existing system does not allow providing conditions for the education of each child. The need to modernize the system of preventing social orphanhood and the need to provide assistance to children and families in need of state assistance is evidenced by official reports, analytical materials, state statistics, and research by leading Russian organizations (Besschyotnova, 2014). At present, the task is to develop and introduce new systemic approaches and measures that would make it possible to qualitatively change the situation and provide guaranteed assistance, the best conditions for development and family education for each specific child in need of state assistance (Saikia, Bora, & Luy, 2019).

Research Questions

The subject of the research is the system for preventing social orphanage of minors in modern Russian conditions. In accordance with the Federal Law "On the fundamentals of the system for the prevention of neglect" (Government RF, 1999, p. 38), in analyzing the effectiveness of the system for preventing social orphanhood, indicators were analyzed that characterize "people in need of state assistance": children with disabilities; persons in difficult situations, in socially dangerous situations; children in situations that threaten their life and health; orphans and children left without parental care; persons from among orphans and children without parental care and children in socially dangerous situations under the age of 23 years. The results of the implementation of measures aimed at preventing social orphanhood will be discussed in this article.

Purpose of the Study

The aim of the study is to analyze the effectiveness of the ongoing directions for the prevention of social orphanhood as a socially significant problem in modern economic conditions and to develop measures to identify violations of the rights of minors that contribute to the spread of social orphanhood. This goal was achieved on the basis of the following tasks:

1. Analysis of the activities of regional authorities working with families and children in the field of prevention of orphanhood.

2. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the ongoing areas of prevention of social abandonment.

3. The development of measures to identify violations of the rights of the child in the early stages and the adjustment of plans for social support of the family.

Research Methods

The theoretical basis of the work was scientific work and the work of domestic authors in the study of the problem of social orphanhood. The information base is normative documents, scientific literature, electronic resources, results of reports of authorities, authors' own research.

The main research method is the axiological approach, according to which the child is considered as the highest value of society. The study uses a systematic and multidisciplinary approach to improving the model of guardianship and trusteeship. This approach is based on the basic principles of systems theory. This approach will be used both to build a new system of work for the prevention of social orphanhood, as well as for guardianship and trusteeship, and will also serve as the basis for selecting recommendations on the use of diagnostic and therapeutic methods of working with major consumers.

Findings

As a result of the analysis of the regulatory framework, it was concluded that the Russian system focuses on the development of primary and secondary preventive measures, which is a positive trend. In order to ensure a unified approach to solving the problems of prevention, protecting the rights and legitimate interests of minors, territorial commissions work in Russia as part of interagency cooperation to identify, record and organize work with minors and families in socially dangerous situations. The analysis of indicators characterizing the sphere of social orphanage indicates a negative trend. For example, in one of the regions of the Central Federal District, the number of such children under the age of 18 was 18643, with an average annual increase of 123 children. In the system of registration of minors and families in socially dangerous situations, 69 families are reflected in 2017, in 2018 this number was 79 families, by November 2019 – 86 (Rosstat, 2019).

The authors revealed that in the Russian prevention system there is a balance between repressive measures and methods of social work (Bazarova, 2015).

Specialists who need to report signs of violation of the rights and legitimate interests of children experience difficulties. They are associated with various reasons, including:

• It is difficult for specialists to form an accurate understanding of the problem identification problem;

• specialists do not take responsibility to report early signs of violations of the rights of the child and wait for the child to seriously suffer;

• due to the prevalence of the instructive and punitive nature of the response, informing about the early signs of a violation is perceived as a premature measure;

• existing departmental rules for organizing work with cases of violation of the rights of the child lead to an increase in the unpaid workload of specialists, which causes resistance.

To increase the effectiveness of activities to prevent social orphanage, the authors propose the introduction of a draft plan for informational and methodological support of the activities of specialists to identify children in need of state protection (Table 1 ).

The proposed plan will solve one of the important tasks – to ensure the identification of cases of violation of the rights of the child at an early stage of the family crisis, and thereby avoid the occurrence of social orphanhood. This is due to the fact that (Antipova, 2013):

• families at an early stage of the crisis have great resources for recovery;

• less expensive technologies are used to rehabilitate such families;

• among families at an early stage of the crisis, a large proportion of young families with 1–2 young children;

• rehabilitation of families at an early stage of the crisis allows increasing the number of families that have gained experience in overcoming the crisis and are able to cope with difficulties on their own, without the participation of social services;

• assistance is not required at an early stage of the crisis, and it is even undesirable to send children to inpatient facilities for the period of rehabilitation;

• after the introduction of early detection technology, the number of stationary places in social protection organizations is reduced.

The basis for the implementation of the proposed plan is the training of specialists in organizing work to timely identify cases of violation of children's rights in order to prevent social abandonment by creating an active professional position among specialists. This requires (Nazarenko, 2014):

• to form the knowledge of specialists about the signs and consequences of child abuse, about early recognition skills;

• to carry out timely identification of families at an early stage of trouble;

• for specialists to form a new understanding of their professional position, willingness to consciously participate in the early detection of these cases;

• to observe the stable activity of program consumers in activities for the early detection of cases of violation of the rights and interests of children.

A feature of the recommendations is that the formation of value systems plays a large role in the organization of work.

Conclusion

Social orphanhood in Russia is one of the most pressing problems of ensuring the integrated development of the national economy of Russia at the present stage of development. The existence of this phenomenon is due to a number of reasons: socio-economic, social isolation, socio-psychological.

As a result of the study, the authors came to the conclusion that the crisis of the institution of the family, caused by the transformation of Russian society and the destabilization of the socio-economic system, lies at the heart of the phenomenon of social orphanhood. The crisis state is manifested in an increase in the number of single-parent families, unregistered marriages, alcoholism and domestic violence are widespread. Accordingly, preventive work should be aimed primarily at helping the family.

As a result of the study, the following recommendations were developed to improve the model for preventing and preventing social orphanhood in Russia:

1. It is necessary to organize and establish a system of interaction between executive authorities and local authorities on the prevention of orphans and the placement of children without parental care by introducing a single mechanism for protecting the rights of each child.

2. To create a unified register of services for families and children who are at risk of social orphanhood, orphans and persons among them.

3. Introduce regional standards for budget services to protect the rights of children.

4. To optimize the interdepartmental system of collecting information on children in need of state protection and families at social risk.

5. Develop and implement mechanisms to control the quality of services provided to families at social risk.

6. To develop and apply additional measures to ensure positive socialization of persons from among orphans and children left without parental care (up to 23 years).

7. Introduce a system for early detection and crisis management for families with children in need of state protection.

8. To form a primary network of specialists coordinating rehabilitation work with families and children who need state protection at the place of residence (1 specialist for 10–20 families), development of rehabilitation services.

9. To supplement the system of social rehabilitation of children with the infrastructure of employment of adolescents and children's leisure, rehabilitation and adaptation of children from social risk groups.

10. To develop services for single mothers from among orphans and children left without parental care with children under the age of 7 years.

It is necessary to combine efforts on development and testing on the basis of regional reference and experimental institutions created from a number of social institutions working with families with children, innovative forms and technologies for the prevention of social orphanage.

References

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• Bazarova, E. (2015). Early detection of family problems as a technology for the prevention of social orphanhood. Bulletin of the Buryat State Univer., 5, 116–119.
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