CC BY
56
Natalia Bulakh
Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University Department of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (1st year master-student)
THE PROBLEMS OF NORM-LAW REGULATION OF SOCIAL WORK WITH FOSTER FAMILIES
Annotation:
This article represents the results of the research conducted on the basis of State Institution of Social Services Regional Resource Center «Perspective» Tula, Russia. Analyzed historical preconditions for orphanhood. Foster family is considered from a position a professional family. Professional competence of the experts realizing training of candidates for foster parents. Problem will be considered as regulatory - legal framework and problems of social work with a foster family in Russia.
Аннотация:
В статье представлены результаты исследования, проведенного в государственном учреждении социального обслуживания населения Тульской области «Региональный ресурсный центр «Перспектива» г. Тула, Россия. Проанализированы исторические предпосылки сиротства. Приемная семья рассматривается как профессиональная форма семейного устройства. Сделан акцент на профессиональной компетентности специалиста, реализующего подготовку кандидатов в приемные родители. Выделены нормативно-правовые проблемы регулирования социальной работы с приемной семьей в России.
Keywords:
orphans, children without parental care, boarding school, normative legal documents, adoption, guardianship, trusteeship, foster family, norm-law regulation of social services with foster family.
Ключевые слова:
сироты, дети, оставшиеся без попечения родителей, интернат, нормативно-правовые документы, усыновление, опека/ попечительство, приемная семья, нормативно-правовое регулирование социальной работы с приемной семьей.
Nowadays, the state family policy of the Russian Federation aimed at the placement of orphans and children without parental care in to the family. These statements are given in the National Strategy of Action for Children for 2012-2017years.
But it was not always so. Until the beginning of the XX century there was traditionally situation in Russia, in which a child got to the orphanage only when
he had absolutely no relatives. In the case of orphanage, child is brought up in a foster family often. After the Revolution of 1917 and the establishment of Soviet power, not focused on the individual, but on a collective upbringing, that is why the practice of placing orphans in social and educational institutions became a priority of the Soviet Union.
Great success in the field of collective education was achieved, for example, by world-renowned educator Anton Makarenko. Makarenko's ideas do not lose their relevance even now. In the world there are associations devoted to the study of his experience. In Germany there is such association too.
First of all, we shouldn't forget that, there was a huge number of homeless, neglected children and orphans after two wars and two revolutions in Soviet Russia. The best solution for their effective socialization was the system of mass educational institutions. Besides, as a rule, Makarenko had to deal with teens who still had the experience of living with a native family.
Up until the 90's of the XX century in Russia the most effective educational and bringing up institution for orphans was considered a boarding school.
Boarding school for orphans is a closed institution where children were on full state support, received their secondary education up to the age of majority. Their contacts with the outside world were limited.
Owing to the specifics of foreign policy of the USSR the results of the researching of the foreign colleagues weren't studied used by the Russian teacher. For example, John Bowlby's researching and his theory of attachment. According to it, the domestic psychology and pedagogical science came to the reconsideration of ideas of residential education only in 1990s of the XX century, when faced with mass negative results of the collective closed education: reproduction by orphans and leavers of boarding schools, in the families of their own the scenario of an orphanhood; low attachment to the existence in society; criminalization.
The new round of the development of family policy for orphans and children without parental care in the Russian Federation changes end of the XX century when fundamental standard and legal documents were accepted and ratified:
1. Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989.
2. The Constitution of the Russian Federation, 1993 is the main document in hierarchy of the Russian law which proclaimed the Russian Federation as the social state.
3. Family Code of the Russian Federation, 1995 is the main codified regulatory legal act, governing family relations within the territory of the Russian Federation.
Article 54. Each child has the right to live and to be brought up in a family as far as it is possible, the right to know parents, the right for their care, the right for accommodation joint with them, except cases when it contradicts his interests.
For the first time, there was introduced the concept «foster family».
4. National strategy of actions in the best interests of children for the years 2012-2017. Realization of children interest is clearly defined by purposes, tasks and the perspective directions of this strategy. Promoting of family forms of the device of orphan children is started.
5. The Federal Law «On basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation», 1998. The first law in the Russian Federation which proclaimed the interests of the child as priorities of the state.
6. The Federal Law «About Guardianship and Trusteeship», 2008. It governs the legal relations arising at a family after adoption of the child.
7. The Federal Law «About Bases of Social Service in the Russian Federation», 2013 is the main law defining assistance to the population. Help for children is always free. Foster families have the opportunity of psycho-pedagogical and socio-pedagogical maintenance of social services at each stage of the development.
8. The order of the Ministry of Education and Science «About the approval of requirements to the contents of the program of training the persons wishing to adopt in their family the child, without parental care...», 2012. The important document which obliged the candidates for foster parents to be trained.
The family code of the Russian Federation defines the following forms of the foster family care:
Adoption is a form of family education of the children deprived of parental guardianship with the establishment between adopted and adoptive person legal (personal and property) relations existing between parents and children. According to it, parents have the right to keep secret of adoption, to change a name and a surname of the child. Communication with a blood family or relatives is excluded [2, p. 71].
Guardianship is a form of the device of the juvenile citizens (who haven't reached age of fourteen years) at which the citizens (guardians) appointed by guardianship and custody body are lawful representatives of wards and make from their name and in their interests all legally significant actions [2, p. 73].
Trusteeship is guardianship of children at the age of 14 years is a form of the device of minor citizens aged from fourteen till eighteen years at which the citizens (trustees) appointed by body of guardianship should render to minor wards assistance in implementation of their rights and the fulfillment of duties to protect minor wards from abuses of the third persons, and also to agree the full age wards to commete actions [2, p. 73].
Foster family.
Guardianship can be paid or gratuitous.
To gratuitous forms belongs guardianship itself. Guardianship belongs to gratuitous form and to the paid form we regard a foster home and a foster family.
To the paid we regard a foster home and a foster family. Powers arise after signing the contract between the families and appropriate authorities.
The fundamental difference between a foster home, an adoption, a guardianship and a foster family is the existence of differentiation of the rights
and obligations for protection of the rights and interests of this child between parents (if they aren't limited or aren't deprived of the parental rights), body of guardianship and trusteeship (authorized establishment) and the foster tutor. That is why the foster home isn't fully lawful representative of the child. The functions of the lawful representative are available both to the family, and to the service which transferred the child to the family.
On the basis of the analysis of current legislation it is possible to speak about the following advantages of a foster home as a form of the family care of orphans, in comparison with other forms of paid and gratuitous guardianship.
First of all, the foster family in standard acts is considered from the position of a professional family. The candidates for the foster family are obliged to be trained (at least 36 hours according to the program approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation) [1]. For the trustees and adoptive parents such preparation has advisory nature. That is why, foster parents are usually more successful in realization of upbringing potential of the family. As they possess profound knowledge in the field of age psychology, pedagogics, the theory of social work, which is necessary for upbringing of orphans and children without parental care.
As a rule, the child has already had some social experience: a blood family or a boarding school that is reflected on behavior, perception of the world, valuable positions and execution of social roles. The motivation of adoptive parents «love you as our own» quite often leads to crisis in parent-child relationships: one start looking for the mistakes in themselves, others - in the child, blaming for «bad» genes of a blood family. The discrepancy between expectations, self-deception of parents often become the reason of children' return. That's why we consider professional character of a foster family as advantage.
Secondly, social services consider the foster family as more open form than the tutorial one. With the families of adoptive parents the opportunity to use of technologies of maintenance, is excluded as the families want to keep secret of adoption.
The experience of «The Regional Resource Center «Perspektiva» showed the following results of work with the families which accepted children. Selection consisted of 35 families, being on service, 20 of them were tutorial; 15 -receptions.
Researches in «The regional resource center «Perspektiva» confirmed the general tendencies for Russia.
1. The child's other family members or close relatives do have rights to be notified as guardians for example, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles. Sometimes they are not ready to bring up a child, but close relations in such family may provoke negative (reaction) to intervention of social workers in conflict situations.
2. Foster families prove to be an active subject of social work. They address to the experts of social service for consultations more often than the others. They are open for communication, ready to pass their own experience and share problems with other foster families.
Thirdly, foster families are more mobile in ensuring the rights of adopted children than foster home, because the solution of any standard and legal question doesn't requires the agreement with authorized body, as in case with foster home, which is authorized by agencies of guardianship. It takes a long time period in Russia.
In the fourth from social and economic positions of the state to provide the family with place material benefits is more favorable than to support residential establishments for orphans.
Along side with the single-out advantages, the institute of a foster family has difficulties of norm-law regulation of social work with it.( However, despite all advantages of foster family, this institute has difficulties with legal and regulatory framework of social services.
1. The process of transfer of the child to a foster family in Russia has certain bureaucratic expenses. Therefore, the candidate for foster parents has to be ready for the long period of tests and confirmations on his compliance
2. Social work with candidates for foster parents is complicated by the accurate algorithm of interaction of the structures authorized bodies accompanying process of acceptance of the child isn't stated in standard and legal documents.
3. Professional competence of the experts realizing training of candidates for foster parents is often insufficient. Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation approved program with recommendations for the experts realizing such preparations. The priority was allocated for social workers and social teachers. However, it doesn't work in practice. Candidates for foster parents need to be considered not only from the position of educational process, but also from the position of social work: to build the confidential relations for further cooperation within the socio-pedagogical, psychology and pedagogical maintenance. As a rule, such preparation will be organized on the basis of higher educational institutions and institutes of professional development.
4. Despite positive development of branch of the foster family care in Russia the phenomenon of a secondary orphanhood, exists, it implies the return of a child from a foster family back to the state institution. Standard and legal documents doesn't ensure the debugged mechanism of identification of a wrong motivation of a family, a crisis situation or a conflict at early stages. Therefore, the question of children returning from foster families is rather actual.
We consider that in this area of social work the problems of updating and specification of selection, assessment, transfer and maintenance technologies for a foster family and adoptive child are key problems.
Their decision is possible only with accurately designated normative legal positions of the region or the subject of the federation on the directions:
1. The determination of powers, purposes and tasks of bodies, accompanying the process of transfer of a child to a foster family.
2. The adjustment of effective work of interdepartmental interaction.
3. The increase of efficiency of social work with a foster family by means of fixing to the centers of social service of the population the training of candidates
for foster parents, for further process of socio-pedagogical, psychological and pedagogical maintenance.
In «The Regional Resource Center «Perspektiva», within normal-law powers as one of the mechanisms of optimization of process of transfer and escort of the adopted child, it is developed and is being realized the additional educational program of professional development for the experts «Social work with a foster family». I am the author and the teacher of this program. The program purpose is to create professional competence of the experts who are carrying out the preparation and socio-pedagogical maintenance of families. Now there is an approbation process. However, at the first stage, it is possible to underline the activity of experts and their desire to be improved in this field.
References:
1. About the approval of requirements to the contents of the program of training the persons wishing to adopt in their family the child, without parental care: The order of the Ministry of Education and Science // Russian Newspaper. 2012. 31 aug. Available at: http://rg.ru/2012/08/31/deti-dok.html (accessed 16.03.2016).
2. Family Code of the Russian Federation federal law: The State Duma 8 December 1995. SPb.: Staun - country, 2007. 94 p.
