Social and legal protection of children in need in Great Britain and Ukraine

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Bohdan Khmelnitsky National University at Cherkasy

Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy

Social and legal protection of children in need in Great Britain and Ukraine

Martovytska Nataliya, Senior teacher,

Candidate Degree of Pedagogical Sciences,

Ph D Foreign Language Department

Abstract

Introduction. Human rights are the basic things we all need in order to live with dignity: food, housing, education and health care; the right to spend time and communicate with others, to access information, form opinions, express ourselves, and hold religious beliefs; and the right to be free from violence, exploitation and abuse. Everyone, including children, has these rights just because they are human, no matter what their circumstances. Human rights mean that children must be respected as the people they are today, not just when they reach 18.

Purpose of the article is to study the level of children's welfare in Great Britain and in Ukraine, to compare the reasons of children being neglected or in need, the ways of solving problem of this category of children.

Results. In recent years Ukraine has seen a positive trend of increasing the number of foster families and family-type homes and the number of children in them. According to data from regions in Ukraine, the family care (guardianship, foster families and family-type homes) reached 73,212 orphans and children deprived of parental care, which is 0.3% more than last year. But there are still many problems which remain to be discussed. That's why the country is looking for new decision of improving children's welfare system via adopting experience from other countries which have already reached positive results in this area.

Originality. The article highlights the tendencies in children's welfare system in Great Britain and in Ukraine, describes its strong and weak points. It also states the actions that may be carried out to strengthen the state's social welfare sector. Comparison of children welfare in Britain and Ukraine are suggested in the article. Comparative analysis of the term “children in need” and “parental responsibilities” in Ukraine and in Great Britain is offered in the article.

Conclusions. Child protection is a fundamental part of safeguarding children. Welfare of children in need is carried out in Britain and in Ukraine in different ways. But each is aimed to protect children, their rights and to give an opportunity to live in a family (either in biological or foster one).

The number of children in need is growing every year and the states are looking for the new ways of improving children's welfare. In particular by offering different types of assistance, placement into different types of foster care, improving laws, increasing budgetary allocations to government agencies responsible for social care, investing the human resources within the social protection system to increase size, competency and reach of staff form both government and non-governmental service providers; developing regulations and institutions etc. Ukraine welfare policy is aimed to improve the system of institutional care, introduce preventive measures to avoid an orphanhood. Study and adopting the experience of foreign countries are also useful and perspective.

Key words: children in need; neglected children; parental responsibilities; vulnerable children; foster care; services for children; children's welfare system

Problem statement

Effective child protection is a fundamental part of safeguarding children and young people. Over the last decade awareness of the extent of child neglect has grown and there is now a significant evidence base about the severe impact of neglect upon children's well-being and development. There is emerging evidence about the factors associated with effective early intervention and the difference that therapeutic support for children and their families can make. However, child protection statistics, prevalence research and enquiry reports indicate that too many children are still experiencing chronic neglect throughout large parts of their childhood and are not getting the help they need when they need it.

Analysis of recent scientific research and publications. The problem of safeguarding children is widely discussed by foreign and home scholars. Factual material are articles, official papers on social protection of children - Code of child protection, social protection of orphans and children deprived of parental care, normative and legislative acts of the Government of the United Kingdom; analysis of international economic and professional organizations; research papers; information and analysis from Internet sites, materials of scientific and educational publications.

The purpose of the article is to study the level of children's welfare in Great Britain and in Ukraine, to compare the reasons of children being neglected or in need, the ways of solving problem of this category of children.

Presenting the main study material

Children may be without parental care for a variety of reasons. However, groups of children living without parental care include: a) children who have lost one or both parents as a result of HIV/ AIDS, conflict, illness or other cause; b) children living in child headed households; c) children who have been separated from parents, usually in the context of armed conflict or natural disaster; d) children living in residential institutions (including those children who have been abandoned by their parents, for economic or other reasons); e) children who have been placed in an alternative care setting as a result of an administrative decision (by a welfare or protection body) or a court ruling that removal from parental care is in the child's best interests; f) unaccompanied children who arrive in another country seeking asylum or immigration, or as a victim of trafficking; g) children who are left without care for the majority of the day/night for different reasons (including: parents illness, disability or alcoholism; parents away working long hours; parents imprisonment); h) children who live and work away from their home (e.g. child domestic workers); i) children associated with armed forces; g) children who leave their family home, including runaways and children living on the streets. children raising family social orphanhood

Evidence shows that one child can be found in more than one of the categories mentioned above (e.g street children can) also be disabled and/or orphaned, [1, p. 5].

The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 provides a basis for defining children in need. Being "in need", is to his being in need of care and attention because -

a) He is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development unless there are provided for him, under or by virtue of this Part, services by a local authority;

b) His health or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, unless such services are so provided;

c) He is disabled;

d) He is affected adversely by the disability of any other person in his family [2].

There are many different terms which are used to categorize children who, for shorter or longer periods in their lives, are exposed to intense, multiple risks to their physical and mental health. Such labels include: "Children in especially difficult circumstances" (CEDC); "Children in need of special protection" (CNSP); "Children in distress", "Children in crisis"; "Children in exceptionally difficult conditions" [1, p. 6].

To such categories of children in Ukraine belong ones who are deprived of parental care, orphans, social orphans, children, which families turned out to live in difficult circumstances.

There are different levels of vulnerability, according to which certain actions to protect children are being chosen. According to Skinner, the levels may be the following:

Individual/child level with its peculiar indicators (any physical or mental disability or any other long-term difficulty that would make it difficult for the child to function independently; illness (HIV or other mayor illness); emotional or psychological problems; abuse at emotional, physical or sexual level; not cheerful, dull, does not perform well in class, miserable, dirty with torn clothes, sleepy; use of drugs, e.g. glue, alcohol, cigarettes, dagga, cocaine; neglect of schoolwork, does not attend school regularly, does not perform well at school; does not receive sufficient healthy food and constantly shows signs of hunger; constantly shows signs of not sleeping well; poor hygiene or cannot engage in personal care; does not have clothing or has dirty clothing all the time; does not receive care, particularly love, guidance and support.

Family level. Indicators: caregivers are not able or willing to care for the children under their care; alcoholic, poor and emotionally disturbed parents; disabled handicapped (physically and mentally) or chronically very sick parents, e.g. confined to bed; household is overcrowded or the ratio of children to caregivers is too high; divorced parents; abusive family or parents or caregivers not equipped to provide care giving role; lack of financial resources to adequately care for the child; lack of parental guidance and direction.

Community level with the next indicators: risk of being exposed to dangerous situations; prevented from having a normal life as a child, e.g. schooling, play, etc.; unsafe environments such as informal settlements, lack of toilets, crime; high levels of poverty; exposure to crime, gangs and drug use [1, p. 7].

To meet the children needs and protect them, there is a clear definition of the term parental responsibility, which is defined as "all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has". It is hard to imagine a more circular definition. In practice is means that someone with parental responsibility has a right to take part in major decisions in the child's life, such as schooling and whether the child should move abroad etc.

In addition, parental responsibility is defined as "rights of custody" for the purposes of the Hague Convention on Child Abduction, which applies in all European Union, many Western and some other countries. This means that someone can only take the child permanently out of England and Wales with permission of all other people with parental responsibility or with permission of the court [3].

Taking into consideration "parental responsibility" in Ukrainian law, there isn't clear definition of the notion "parental responsibility". But it's widely discussed in psychological and pedagogical literature. Parental responsibility as a component of the phenomenon of parenthood, belongs to a number of complex concepts in accordance with personality and social psychology. It has a dual nature, and includes a responsibility to society and to the conscience of responsibility for the lives and education of children.

The cognitive element of parental responsibility manifests itself in ideas about responsible and irresponsible behavior of parents sharing respo nsibility between the mother and father. The emotional component - in relation to a redistribution of responsibilities in the family, the emotional coloration of this process and in the evaluation process itself as the father, the mother in terms in of responsibility [4, p. 21].

According to another explanation, parental responsibility is the moral, ethical and often legal obligations of parents (and others who have assumed parental roles) regarding the care and development of children [5, p.138].

Children, who cannot be brought up in their families, may be placed in different types of accommodations in Britain. The reasons of such moving are different. There are different reasons for younger children being placed in alternative care settings. In Western Europe 69% of younger children are placed in care due to abuse and neglect, 23% for social reasons (family ill health, parents in prison), 4% abandonment and 4% disability. In comparison in other parts of Europe 32% are abandoned, 25% social orphans (family ill health and capacity), 23% due to disability, 14% abuse and neglect and 6% orphans [1, p, 9].

Reasons why the children are placed into diddrent care establishments are almost the same in Ukraine and in Great Britain. Among the main reasons why children are being placed into care institutions in Ukraine, scholars pointed out excessive usage of alcohol by parents, family financial distress and neglect. The main reason why children are being placed in institutional placements in the UK is neglect, emotional and physical violence, alcohol drinking, family poorness, neglect, addicyion.

The most common reasons of children being in need in Ukraine are: neglect, emotional and sexual violence/ abuse, addiction of parents [6, p. 134].

The state is doing nuch to protect the children in need. Child protection in Ukraine is carried out through the guardianship and care services for children, centers of social services for family, children and youth according to the law. The state protects children from physical or mental violence, exploitation, involvement into criminal activity, etc. [5].

Statistics says that there were 69,310 children and young people looked after by 151 English local authorities as at 31 March 2015. This was an increase of 756 children, or 1%, on the previous year (68,554).

Three quarters of children were fostered (51,985), 9% (6,031) were in children's homes, and 5% (3,314) were placed for adoption; the same percentages as in previous years.

Table 1:

Number of children in placement in Great Britain by type 2014 and 2015

Of the 69,310 children looked after, we did not receive placement location information for 3,447 children, compared to 4,074 in 2014. The very large majority of those for whom we received no information were children placed for adoption; their placement locations were kept confidential by local authorities [8].

Children in need in Great Britain are placed to different types of foster families, institutional establishments and other places which are aimed to protect children's rights and keep them safe. In the UK, social protection of orphans and children deprived of parental care, is carried out at three levels of the system: by the central government, by government agencies and by local government.

The body which deals with this problem in Ukraine is the Ministry of Health. It is competent in making decisions as to adoption of orphans and children deprived of parental care. On the local level, the Committee of children protection supervises, supports and protects and decides whether there is the need of appropriate services.

But still there exist too many gaps which are aimed to improve child welfare system in Britain. Actions to strengthen the state's social welfare sector include: a) increase budgetary allocations to government agencies responsible for social welfare, alternative care and protective services to a level adequate, at minimum, for providing statutory services and coordinating and regulating services provided by local government and non-government agencies; b) invest in human resources within the social protection system to increase the size, competency and reach of staff from both government and non-governmental service providers; c) develop regulations, guidelines and coordination mechanisms aimed at improving implementation of social protection policies and ensuring more effective service provision [1, p.23].

Ukrainian state improves the system of institutional care, introduces preventive measures to avoid an orphanhood. In 2012 the President of Ukraine signed a Decree (from October 22, 2012 № 609/2012) "National Strategy of Child Orphanhood Prevention in the period up to 2020" [8].

Conclusion and further perspectives

Taking into consideration all mentioned above we may assert that child protection is a fundamental part of safeguarding children.

Welfare of children in need is carried out in Britain and in Ukraine in different ways. But each is aimed to protect children, their rights and to give an opportunity to live in a family (either in biological or foster one).

The reasons of children becoming in need are varied but both in Ukraine and in Britain remain almost the same.

The most widespread are parents' addiction, neglect, all kinds of violence and abuse.

The number of such children is growing every year and the states are looking for the new ways of improving children's welfare. In particular by offering different types of assistance, placement into different types of foster care, improving laws, increasing budgetary allocations to government agencies responsible for social care, investing the human resources within the social protection system to increase size, competency and reach of staff form both government and non-governmental service providers; developing regulations and institutions etc.

Ukraine welfare policy is aimed to improve the system of institutional care, introduce preventive measures to avoid an orphanhood.

Study and adopting the experience of foreign countries are also useful and perspective.

Child neglect\violence remains a major cause for concern.

It recognises the attempted shift to early help, which is a clear aspiration of policy, but systems and local structures to facilitate this shift remain inconsistent and sporadic.

There are still challenges in establishing effective data collection mechanisms to capture the true scale of neglect and with embedding early intervention services in a systematic way.

Different services that aim to support and protect children shouldn't be operated as separate services.

In the majority of the UK and Ukraine they are still a long way from realising the vision of an overarching, seamless service that will identify and meet children's needs across the full spectrum of concern.

Ukraine welfare system of children needs some gaps to be fulfilled. That's why positive experiences of foreign countries may be useful to adopt.

References

1. Claudia Moedlagl, Raluca Verweijen-Slamnescu, Evelyn Winkler (2006). Child Rights Situation Analysis, November 2006. SOS-Kinderdorf International Office

2. Getting it right for every child. Good practice guidance (2008). Retrieved from https://south- ayrshire.gov.uk/documents/girfecappendix%208%20children%20in %20need%20a%20working%20definition.pdf

3. Alternative Family Law. Parental Responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.alternativefamilylaw.co.uk /children/parental-responsibility/

4. Zvereva, I. D. (2008). Social pedagogy: encyclopedia. Kyiv: The centre of Education Literature (in Ukr.).

5. Zhyravsky A., Baybakova I. and oth. (2004). English and Ukrainian Term Dictionary on Social Pedagogy. Lviv (in Ukr.)

6. Children in care and Child Abuse Cases SECTION E : Health Statistics (2005). Children in Care at 31 December 2003 by principal reason for admission to care

7. Children looked after placements as at 31 March 2015(2016). Children's Social care Statistics. Ofsed. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ children-looked-after-placements-as-at-31-march-2015

8. Martovytska N.V. (2014) Improvement of parentally deprived children welfare in Ukraine. Based on the British Experience. American journal of educational research, 12B, 70-78 (in Ukr)

Анотація

Соціально-правовий захист нужденних дітей у Великій Британії і в Україні

Мартовицька Наталія Володимирівна, к.п.н, ст. викладач кафедри іноземних мов; соціальної роботи та соціальної педагогіки, Черкаський національний університет імені Богдана Хмельницького, Україна

У статті описані причини виникнення категорії нужденних дітей в Україні і у Великій Британії, надано трактування терміну «нужденні діти» та "батьківська відповідальність”. Представлено шляхи подолання проблеми виникнення категорії дітей, які потребують втручання спеціалістів, проаналізовано форми влаштування дітей, які потребують допомоги в Україні і у Великій Британії. Автор висвітлює сильні і слабкі сторони системи соціального захисту дітей в Україні і у Великій Британії.

Ключові слова: нужденні діти; занедбані діти; батьківська відповідальність; фостерна опіка; служби для дітей; система соціального захисту дітей