Blood substitute family as a socio-cultural environment for a child left without care, conditions and features of its professional support

Abstract

The article discusses the features of the blood substitute family as a socio-cultural environment of the child and the importance of professional support for its effective and successful functioning. The blood substitute family is the most common form of family placement of orphaned children, children left without parental care, throughout the historical period and currently accounts for more than 60% of all existing substitute families. The blood substitute family is a specific category within the substitute care. The peculiarities of its creation and functioning determine the topicality of specific professional support for the family. Psychological and pedagogic support is most often expressed in the official legally approved training of potential foster parents and support for families of this category. At the same time, while there is an objectively urgent need for support and assistance, problems still exist which are associated with the optionality of these services to close relatives who adopted children for family placement, their implementation in the framework of leisure activities, low motivation, fears and distrust of the official professional service. The socio-pedagogic conditions given in the article, which determine the forms and content of professional support for all members of the blood substitute family, determine the effectiveness of the service's specialists in terms of preventing second orphanhood and assistance of providing the prosperity for all its members.