ORPHANHOOD IN UKRAINE AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON: HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL ASPECTS
Authors:   Kyiv Capital University named after Borys Grinchenko, Hutsol O. , Salnikova N. ,   National Aviation University, Tryma K. ,   National Aviation University
Published: November 2024

Successful socialization of orphans is one of the vital social problems of modern Ukraine, which is complicated by the permanent demographic crisis. The crisis of morality, economic instability, changes in the worldview, and many other factors have reduced the socializing function of the family and this, in turn, has provoked an increase in the number of orphans. Additionally, in the future, the orphan issue may turn into a problem for sustainable socio-political development of the state, because such children often violate the adaptation to the norms and rules of society, since they do not identify themselves with it. As psychologists point out, raising children in state institutions (boarding schools, social centres, etc.) forms in them a specific, often maladaptive, attitude to life, which is significantly different from children who grew up in families, even incomplete ones. Children who were brought up in orphanages and boarding schools socialize much worse, it is difficult for them to resolve conflicts of communicating with the environment, they have more primitive forms of communication and are unable to refrain from aggression, blaming others for the conflict, etc. Such children demonstrate typical manifestations of defensive behavior in conflicts, indifference, and lack of independence. The paper aims to study the problem of orphans and unwanted children in historical retrospect, showing that this problem was acute throughout the entire historical development of Ukraine, and proving that a successful solution to this problem can positively affect the socio-political development of the state and ensure social stability as a whole. Education and protection of the younger generation has always been an important area of government policy because children are a kind of guarantor of self-preservation and stable progress of the nation. The state, taking care of the development of this category of children, not only ensures further economic stability but also prepares future citizens with an active life position, able to take a conscious part in the management of state and public affairs, to form an effective civil society. The increase in the number of children who are now becoming orphans is evidence that a large number of families are not able to qualitatively adapt to the new socio-economic and socio-cultural living conditions. The reasons leading to the increase in the number of orphans are mostly related to changes in social and family values, and not to the economic factor. Despite all the efforts of the authorities, by the end of 2021, the social protection system for children of Ukraine did not record a significant decrease in the number of orphans and orphanages. The existing mechanisms for providing social services to families in difficult life circumstances cannot currently be called sufficiently effective, and they need to be refined, especially in modern conditions of war. It is obvious that the adaptation of international experience and the borrowing of the practices of the developed countries of the world to solve the problem, in general, contributed to the development of domestic legislation, but as often happens, in practice they do not have the same effect. A lot has already been done, but there is still a lot of work to be done on the formation and use of a qualitatively new system of social standards and guarantees of protection for orphans and unwanted children. Children are the most promising part of the population for the development of the country, for which it is necessary to ensure safety and development in their native country. Currently, Ukraine faces a difficult and multi-vector task of revising world values and forming humanistic world standards of living standards. A responsible attitude towards family and parenthood must be formed at different levels, both at the national level and at the level of the educational institution, the team, the family, and the individual. Key words: orphans, children deprived of parental care, unwanted children, political and social development, state.