ПРО СУТНІСТЬ ПОСЛУГИ СОЦІАЛЬНОГО СУПРОВОДУ ВІДПОВІДНО ДО ЗАКОНОДАВСТВА УКРАЇНИ

Abstract

The article regards the place of social support service, provided to a person (family) belonging to vulnerable groups and/or who are in difficult life circumstances, defined by the norms of different Laws of Ukraine, in the sphere of social security of Ukrainian citizens. Following on from applying the comparative method to find out the consistency of legal norms, the author stresses that there is no legally unified definition of social support. The author highlights legislative contraventions on the determination of the place of social support in the system of social security types of Ukrainian citizens as well as on the characteristics of social support as a type of social service. The researcher suggests the amendments to the legislation. The author emphasizes that the normative consolidation of the social support service as a service of social assistance does not determine its legal specificity with respect to other types of professional social protection activities. Legislative definitions of “social service” and “social work” are analyzed in this article. The author proves that these terms are identical in content, and the research proposes to harmonize their regulatory use. Specific attention is paid to the fact that the normative characteristics of the social support service as basic service does not characterize its specifics, does not distinguish it in the system of social services and is not applied in practice. The researcher also argues that the legislation on social security does not contain the list of other (not basic) types of social services, does not determine the specifics of providing the basic service in the system of others, does not affect the individual / family availability of payment of the social service. The author stresses that the characteristic of social support service as a basic service is a legislative declaration and has no application in practice. Social care, social assistance and social patronage are the elements that determine the legislative content of the social support service of vulnerable groups of kids and young people. At the same time, the current legislation does not establish the legal features that characterize these notions, does not define the legal conditions for the provision of each of the components of the social service. The researcher critically analyses legal norms that define the list of professional actions that shape the content of the social support service of a person (family) and the legal grounds for its provision. The author lists a number of examples of inconsistencies between by-laws and provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Social Services”. The researcher emphasizes the necessity to streamline the rules of legislation governing the content and scope, rules and regulations, conditions and procedure of providing and indicators of quality of social support service in a sole by-law – The State Standard of Social Support.