General conditions and situation of the child population

Main characteristics of modern childhood fully reflect the current situation of Ukrainian society. Thus, a general decrease in the child population has been observed in Ukraine. As of 1 January 2003, the size of the child population (up to 18 years) was 10,371,120 (5,313,261 boys and 5,057,859 girls), which was 1,467,5000 less compared with 1998. The average birth rate for 2001 was equivalent to the birth rates for 1998, 1999 and 2000, i.e. 7.8 persons per 1,000 of the population. A positive indicator is that the infant mortality rate has decreased after 1993 (14.9 in 1993, 11.2 in 2001).

As of 1 January 2002, there were 153,453 registered handicapped children.

Moreover, disability is gradually ‘getting younger’.

The right to general secondary education is being implemented thoroughly. The coverage of children studying in various types of institutions of general education has now been successfully stabilised. So, at the beginning of the 2002/03 academic year, there were 22,094 institutions of general education functioning in Ukraine with 6.34 million pupils.

The number of children studying in private educational institutions is on the rise.

The juvenile justice situation among minors has stabilised somewhat. According to figures from Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, there has been a decrease in the number of unlawful acts and crimes committed by minors in all types of crimes during the past few years.

Children at risk

The following belong to risk groups in Ukraine: orphans and children deprived of parental guardianship; children from families with meagre means of livelihood (as a rule, they are families with many children); children in the state of vagabondism; minors accommodated in social rehabilitation institutions and institutions of confinement; refugee children etc.

The trend in recent years of an increase in the number of orphans and children deprived of parental care is continuing (currently there are about 100,000 such children, of whom 11,592 are in boarding schools for orphans and children deprived of parental guardianship; 4,689 in orphanages belonging to the Ministry of Education and Science of kraine (MES); 3,150 in orphanages of the Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine (MHC);

and 3,056 in boarding homes of the Ministry of Labour and Social Politics of Ukraine.

National policies and special strategies for children at risk

Сhild protection in Ukraine has been acknowledges as a national priority and is firmly entrenched as part of government policy. All children living on Ukrainian soil enjoy equal rights and freedom irrespective of race, colour of skin, sex, language, religion, nationality, ethnicity or social background.

Primary measures in the strategy of national policies are targeted at:

Perfecting legislation in terms of the legal and social welfare of children, bringing it in line with international law norms;

Lowering infant mortality indicators; ensuring suitable conditions for child health protection, children’s education and social adaptation, an active way of life, fostering in family surroundings in an environment of peace, dignity and equality;

providing children with suitable benefits and social guarantees;

Implementation of targeted programmes for child protection;

development of network and improvement of work effectiveness of specialised institutions and social welfare services for children; working out of mechanisms for supporting children at risk;

Perfection of the systems of maintenance, education and fostering of orphans and children deprived of parental care; support of such forms of family upbringing as family-type orphanages and foster families;

Disability prevention, creation of conditions for social integration of children with functional disabilities; expansion of the network of specialised medical institutions and dispensaries, and providing community medical support to children suffering from the Chernobyl disaster;

Promotion of scientific research on current childhood issues; establishment of socioeconomic and legal institutions with the aim of defending children’s rights and legal interests.

In Ukraine the governmental institutions that have the executive power to ensure rights of the child are: Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, State Committee of Ukraine on Family and Youth Issues, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Ministry of Labour and Social Politics of Ukraine, Ministry of Health of Ukraine, regional-, Kiev- and Sevastopol state administrations, the administrations of county-, city district-, village- and rural councils of people’s deputies. Under the State Committee of Ukraine on Family and Youth Issues the following have been established: regional-, city- and district- administrations and departments for issues of family and the Youth (762), county-, city- and district-centres of social services for the young (615), regional-, city- and district- centres of social services for minors (780). Responsibility for conducting the work on the socio-legal care of orphans and children left without parental guardianship rests with bodies for care and guardianship under the local executive authorities. As of 1 January 2002, there were 62,743 children on follow-up lists of the bodies for care and guardianship who had been placed under guardianship (2001 – 61,658, 2000 – 59,504 and 1999 – 57,089 persons).

Child care in residential institutions

The official child care system in Ukraine provides for upkeep and fostering of children from birth to the age of maturity and is represented by residential institutions which fall under various institutions: Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Ministry of Labour and Social Policies of Ukraine. The network of institutions for orphans and children deprived of parental care on 1/1/2003 covered 45 residential schools and 91 orphanages of MES system; 47 child homes of MHC system and 57 residential homes of Ministry of Labour system.

For the past years an increase in the number of inmates in residential institutions is being noticed. Since 1995 the number of social and biological orphans in orphanages, child homes and boarding homes has increased 1.5 times and the number of those studying in boarding schools for orphans by 1.4 times.

The traditional public care system for orphans and children deprived of parental care envisaged at least two transfers of a child from one institution to another. A child’s wish was not always taken into account. A more progressive form is the mixed type of orphanages where children between the ages of 3 and 18 are accommodated. They have been established according to multi-age principle at children’s place of residence and are intended for 20-25 persons who retain their ties with their families.

It is the objective of all child institutions belonging to the socio-fostering institutions of governmental care to ensure optimal conditions for vital activities of orphans and children deprived of parental care. Among the experiences of the system of residential institutions for orphans and children deprived of parental care are: active search for and implementation of teaching and educational technologies; bringing inmates from residential schools into the folds of general education schools and the other way round; opening of vocational training centres in residential institutions; opening of mini companies, workshops and mini bakeries attached to boarding schools to partially solve financial difficulties.

Care in public institutions gets complicate due to: shortage of finances; overcrowding in boarding schools; predominantly female teachers and educators. A significant number of child homes, orphanages and residential schools have a weak material and technical base which requires repairs of both living and office quarters. The needs of inmates in residential institutions when it comes to clothes and shoes are fulfilled to 60-70%. The administration of child institutions is forced to meet the material needs of orphans and children deprived of parental care by sponsored means, which are not easy to obtain.

Socio-psychological description of inmates and those former inmates of boarding institutions:

Communicative problems, absence of human relation skills, diffidence, inferiority complex and a feeling of social alienation.

Insufficient signs of positive reference points of their social role, heightened aggressiveness, rejection of one’s own personality, adaptation problems in new environments.

Most of the former inmates of residential schools are not ready for an independent life. Most severe adaptation problems are: economic difficulties (when it comes to food, clothing, municipal payments, debt payments, health maintenance); protection of economic well-being (employment difficulties, low-paid jobs, inability to be thrifty); housing problems (getting, purchase, change, orderliness of flat or room in hostel).

Problems concerning settling down of inmates after finishing residential school:

For most of the inmates in residential schools the intention to continue studies means, first of all, a postponement of the beginning of an independent life; a chance to get a place in hostel, finance one’s support through stipend and other benefits fixed by the government. In 41% of the cases the key issue in choosing a future employment is the prospect of solving the housing problem.

After finishing residential school 54% of the former inmates count on support and help from the institution administration, teachers, educators and staff of various services.

In the system of the National Department of Public Social Welfare of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies of Ukraine there are 57 functioning residential homes for children with deficiencies of physical and intellectual development designed for 9.1 thousand occupancies. Currently 7.9 thousand handicapped children occupy them. Thus, the present network completely satisfies the needs of beds/occupancies. However, the inmates are definitely not always provided appropriate living conditions. The biggest difficulty for this category of children is the problem of getting an accommodation after finishing the institution.

The problem of life support for orphaned children suffering from HIV or AIDS which require detailed study and creation of special conditions for the care of such children has not been solved satisfactorily.

Alternative forms of care vis-a-vis residential institutions. One of the alternative forms of arrangement for orphans and children deprived of parental care in Ukraine are family type residential homes. It is an independent family created according to the wish of a couple or one unmarried person who takes no less than five children for fostering.

New impetus to the development of the mentioned form of care was given by the approval of the Regulation on family-type orphanages in 2001 by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. As of 1/1/2003 there are 112 such functioning homes in 22 counties, Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol where 1,132 children are being fostered (out of them 238 own and adopted, 894 – taken for fostering).

Family-type orphanages reflect the real complexity of fostering effects of a family on the formation of personality of an orphan or a child deprived of parental care. The child acquires skills of interpersonal correlation, embraces positive models of adult behaviour and communication in social environment, and develops a yearning for self-perfection.

However, there are still problems concerning the working of family-type orphanages:

material and technical, as well as financial responsibility of family-type orphanages lies with local bodies of the executive authorities; the issue of improvement of living conditions of a family in case of additional foster children has not been solved; the choice and training of parents-fosterers are not always managed in a responsible manner.

Problems do occur when a child returns to his/her natural parents on reaching maturity (in this case psychological and teaching efforts of parents-fosterers concerning such a child add up to nothing).

The establishment of foster family institution in Ukraine was initiated in 1998. As of 1/1/2003 there are 45 functioning foster families who have taken on family care for 64 children. What characterizes this new form of care is: that the child being fostered in a foster family retains the status of orphan or a child deprived of parental care, and, accordingly, all benefits envisaged by the legislation for this category of children; foster parent contenders must undergo a training course, meant for understanding the problems concerned with the arrival of a new foster child; foster parents cooperate with social workers, who function as escorts for the family on social issues; upkeep of the foster child in family is financed by the state at the rate equivalent to the expenses occurred for maintaining a foster child in residential institutions for orphans.

During 1998 and 2003 the State Institute of Family and Youth Studies accorded the scientific and methodological support for the functioning of foster families in Ukraine. Teaching methods for contenders for the creation of a foster family, social workers, foster parents and children of foster parents have been worked out and implemented; methods of escorting parents and children of foster parents on social issues have been worked out.

The form of placement for children who for various reasons have been deprived of parental care given priority in Ukraine still remains adoption. The government institution helping in placing orphans and children deprived of parental care through adoption is the Centre of Child Adoption under MES.

In Ukraine 7,593 children (2000 – 7692, 1999 – 6767) were adopted in the year 2001. A decrease in the percentage of orphans and children deprived of parental care adopted by citizens in Ukraine is being observed and correspondingly – an increase – in the number of adoptions by foreign citizens. An obstacle to the adoption of children is the presence of natural parents who were not legally deprived of their parental rights in time.

The issue of the appropriate control of the upkeep and fostering of adopted children and providing of proper care still remains problematic.

Positive examples

New programmes being implemented in Ukraine with the objective of observing rights of the child including foster children in residential institutions are: Comprehensive programme for addressing disability issues; state programme for the prevention of child vagabondism for 2002-2005; additional measures on the implementation of the National programme ‘Children of Ukraine’ for the period up to 2005; ‘Programme for the Health, Recovery and Recreation of Children up to 2008’, etc.

Prevention of a child’s exit from a family is the main objective of the programme ‘Social Accompaniment of Troubled Families’ (2002). According to the work done by Services for Minors and social service centres for the young, more than 20 troubled families are being ‘socially accompanied’.

With assistance from the International charitable organisation ‘Hope and Home for Children’ a project on house construction for family-type orphanages is under way (54 homes have been erected); a reintegration platform for the return of children deprived of parental care to their natural families and prevention of early orphanhood has been created.

During 2001-2002 the State Institute of Family and Youth Studies put the programme ‘Preparing inmates of residential institutions for an independent life’ into action with help from UNESCO. Sub-projects of the programme is: working out of a teaching course for students of final classes with the aim of preparing them for an independent life; opening of an all-Ukrainian hot line for inmates and former inmates of residential institutions; shaping of temporary foster families.

Public organisations and charitable funds have founded 25 institutions of social care of children (work of the Centre of Social Care of the Child ‘Paternal Home’ ought to be mentioned.).

Financing

According to the Ministry of Finance figures, Ukraine’ expenditure is as follows:

• Boarding and residential schools for orphan and children deprived of parental care:

66.6 million hryvnas in 1999; 76.2 in 2000; 109.0 in 2001;

• Special schools for children with health disorders: 140.3 million hryvnas in 1999; 162.6 in 2000; 233.4 in 2001.

For the upkeep of each child in boarding schools the government spends up to 700 hryvnas ($127) per month. People who take a child for care (fostering) under Ukraine’s Act on “State support to families having children” have the right to state support. It is approved if the average monthly maintenance or pension for the last six months received per child does not exceed a certain sum (46 hryvnas in 1999 and 80 hryvnas beginning 1st January 2002). From 2002 the average sum of monthly support fixed per child whose parents evade maintenance payments or when maintenance collection is impossible, has been increased to 12.1 hryvnas (8 hryvnas in 2000). Average sum of state support for nursing a handicapped child as of 1st January 2002 is 45.5 hryvnas (27.9 hryvnas in 2001).

No doubt such figures of support level do not help ensure conditions for wide-ranged development of a child. It is not by chance that a large number of the children who have a guardian or guardians are being fostered in residential institutions. Thus, the mechanisms and the size of financing of expenses for children in various forms of care need revision.

There ought to be a unified maintenance sum for the upkeep of orphans irrespective of the institution where they are fostered; provisions for extra costs for educational and medical services rendered in boarding schools should be made. At present the question of a unified sum of state support for children in care in families of individuals and public institutions still remains unsolved.

Conclusions

For the past few years, social orphanhood as a social phenomenon is becoming continuously more aggravated in Ukraine. It is an achievement for Ukraine to have brought the national legislation on children in line with international standards and UN Convention on the Right of the Child in a broad sense. At the same time, due to the complicated economic realities, the number of Ukrainian families who can afford to adopt or take for care orphans or other children deprived of parental care is decreasing; correspondingly, the number of children landing up in institutions of social welfare is increasing.

Today the national policies are oriented at the development and encouragement of family type care of children.

Appendix

Foster family care – dominant alternative form in process of deinstitutionalisation In the period of living in Former Yugoslavian Republics persons with special needs were placed in institution. Institutional care has been existed as a dominant form for a long time. As more important we would mention the Orphanages, Institutions for children with special needs, Institutions for delinquent children, Homes for old people etc.

These institutional forms of care by time need more and more money by the state budget for social protection. A lot of money has been spent for maintaining, equipping and functioning the institutions, from aspect of placing, nutrition the people who live there and means for the salary's staff, too.

On the other hand the institution care of the children didn’t built an adequate socialization for children, because most of the time one pedagogue cared out for more than ten children, just so as the state budget in purpose of these needs was becoming smaller and more restrictive.

These circumstances generally had influence on supporting of the European Union initiative of deinstitutionalisation.

Deinstitutionalisation means proposing and organizing new forms for social care that will provide adequate care to the child who needs special care. Mainly there are three ways of carrying out the process of deinstitutionalisation in Europe:

1) Strengthening the biological family to accept the child.

2) Placing the child in another family.

3) Creating small residential centres with 20-25 persons. Just so as the opening a Day- care centres and NGO activities support these forms for children with special needs.

The responsibility of the community would be enlarging with the low of local community. The local community is becoming a mediator in search for adequate forms of taking care for children with special needs, in their territory.

From these above-mention forms of care, in R. Macedonia the most applicable form is the foster family care. The fact that foster family care is better than institutional care for the children contribute this form to be more adopted, but also the unemployment among family members was the reason for many families were asking for foster care given. So, two useful things result from this need of care:

1) Taking care of the abounded children;

2)Economy support for the poor families.

Although the children with special needs are registered in all cities in Macedonia, these forms are dominant just in Skopje, Prilep and Makedonski Brod. We think that there must be more effort for attracting the families from the other places too. There are two basic models of foster families in Macedonia: a) Foster families with low economy standard of living (city and country environment; b) Foster families consisting of the children’s closest relatives.

From aspect of psychophysical condition of the children placed in foster families we can distinguish two models: 1) Foster families with children with normal psychophysical growth and development; and 2) Foster families of children with special needs.

Basic models of foster families have perspective to enforce and enlarge the number of the families and children too.

In that way there is a need of bringing an adequate legislation for foster family care that will regulate more precisely the obligations related to the children placed in foster families, rights and obligations of the foster parents, rules for choosing a families, relations with the biological families, and work in Dally centres and other services for children and family needs. The model of placing children in foster family with low economy standard of living has been shown as a very attractive and successful. Anyway these forms are still on the beginning of their development, so there are a lot of things to do about strengthening and developing it. I would like to mention some basic directions:

1) Stimulating the creation of non-governmental associations for foster parents and fostered children for the purpose of developing new ways and possibilities for their successful functioning.

2) Creating specialised services or teams in the social centres;

3) The documentation, which is prepared in the social centres.

Foster families that are closest relatives are more dominate in Albanian population. This form should be supported and strengthened with organising day-care centres and other services, because usually the foster parents don’t get any reparation for the children that they care for. The process of abolition which has been started in the last few years made new dimension of development of foster family care, which was supported not just from the government institutions of social protection, but from renowned associations as UNICEF, ESN program, CRIC’s programs and another. There were verified a remarkable results.

Such success is related to the children with special needs who are accommodated in the ‘Demir Kapija’ – Institution for children with hard mental handicap. This is a long process, which is consisting of: preparing the children for leaving the institution, searching for foster families and working with them for children adaptation in the family live. This process is very delicate. Anyway the results are optimistic and more then what was expected. More than 50 children with special needs already live in cosy family homes. There are lot of things to do with supporting and strengthening this form but before everything there is a need of foster parent’s education, Dally centres, etc.

The nationality of foster families is multiethnic. That is an ideal of multiethnic living. The children and the foster families, which take care for them, usually are not from the same nationality and it is not taken as a barrier.

As a main task of the social work, is to support and expand the process of abolition with the basic existing models in our country, but anyway it is perspective to work on improving the foster family care with new forms and contents, using the experience of many countries in Western Europe, Canada, SAD, Japan and others. In this context I would like to mention these forms that are very attractive: 1) Fostering the child in related family. 2) Foster family of professionals. 3) Developing Dally centres for children’s stay – service for biological and foster family. 4) Foster family who provides services for the families where child reside. 5) Participation of NGO’s for giving support and help to the families where reside child with special needs. 6) Students as voluntaries give a help to the families. 7) Peace-army service supporting the foster families. 8) Special place for activities in this process should be taken from the Social centres. They should work on popularising this form between families and attracting them. On this seminar we should talk about possibilities of dispersing this form in every centre, at first from aspect of communication, direct and indirect collaboration between two Social centres where usually occurs problems and difficulties in fostering and accompaniment the children placed in other family.

The discussion for the documentation, which expert services should prepare, has an important place for a discussion.

It is very important, to analyse the authority of guardianship and his work with foster families, from aspect how to attract people to accept this form and how to control, develop and to improve it. Although there are a lots of classical ways of informing and attracting trough media and trough the Social centres, there can be organised a special approaches and alternatives.

The same is concerning to the rest of the working phases with the foster families. Social centres are working with the biological families in purpose to build bigger communication between them end foster families, and they try to place the children with special needs in there biological families.

The topic that we have to think about in future is to incite forming the Nongovernmental organization for foster parents. They will be parallel power to the expert services in finding a different ways and possibilities (projects, foundations). Nongovernmental organisations of foster parents don’t work for standard foster families, but for relative foster families and guardian’s representatives. The voice of the foster parents will be more adequately accepted, when there is organised structure.

Conclusion

The process of abolition will take new direction, dimensions and possibilities with development of the competence of local community. The mobility of the Institutions in ystem of social protection, especially the social centres should be supported. That why there is a need of additional, education and directions. This process has a future, so we need to support and care it. The governmental services, Universities and Nongovernmental sector are representing the base of the future successful work.