Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Esta publicación cientíca en formato digital es continuidad de la revista impresa
ISSN-Versión Impresa 0798-1406 / ISSN-Versión on line 2542-3185Depósito legal pp
197402ZU34
ppi 201502ZU4645
Vol.41 N° 77
Abril
Junio
2023
Recibido el 28/02/23 Aceptado el 24/04/23
ISSN 0798- 1406 ~ De pó si to le gal pp 198502ZU132
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas
La re vis ta Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas, es una pu bli ca ción aus pi cia da por el Ins ti tu to
de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co “Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che” (IEPDP) de la Fa-
cul tad de Cien cias Ju rí di cas y Po lí ti cas de la Uni ver si dad del Zu lia.
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ti ga do res; es ti mu lar la in ves ti ga ción en es tas áreas del sa ber; y pro pi ciar la pre sen ta-
ción, dis cu sión y con fron ta ción de las ideas y avan ces cien tí fi cos con com pro mi so so cial.
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas apa re ce dos ve ces al año y pu bli ca tra ba jos ori gi na les con
avan ces o re sul ta dos de in ves ti ga ción en las áreas de Cien cia Po lí ti ca y De re cho Pú bli-
co, los cua les son so me ti dos a la con si de ra ción de ár bi tros ca li fi ca dos.
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Vol. 41, Nº 77 (2023), 227-242
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Social and legal protection of orphans
and children left without parental care
under martial law
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4177.15
Valentyna Myronenko *
Anzhela Kaliniuk **
Kateryna Kutsyk ***
Anastasiia Zadorozhna ****
Inna Kovalenko *****
Abstract
Using general scientic methods such as cognition and
reection of legal philosophy, the article is devoted to the study of
peculiarities of legal protection of orphans and children deprived
of parental care in Ukraine. In this connection, the denition of
orphanhood is formulated, as well as the socio-legal protection
of children, the main stages of the socio-legal protection of children are
dened, the general principles of ensuring the family rights of children
in the system of their protection are established. It was also emphasized
that the social and legal protection of orphans and children left without
parental care should take into account the state approach and take place in
the conditions of a new adoptive, foster and adoptive family. It is concluded
that, the optimization of state activities in this area lies in the formation
of an eective system, the basis of which is the mechanism of socially
coordinated interaction of regional authorities and society as a whole.
Keywords: family rights; orphans under martial law; parental care;
social and legal protection; right to education.
* Candidate of legal sciences, Associate Professor, Head of the departament of the civil and juridical
disciplines of National Academy of Internal Aairs, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORСID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-
0001-8841-8855
** Doctor of Philosophy, Associate Professor, Senior lecturer of the departament of the civil and juridical
disciplines of National Academy of Internal Aairs, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORСID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-
0001-8032-3632
*** Candidate of Juridical Sciences, Senior lecturer of the departament of the civil and juridical disciplines
of National Academy of Internal Aairs, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORСID ID: https://orcid.org/ 0000-0001-
9365-5935
**** Doctor of Philosophy, Senior lecturer of the department of the civil and juridical disciplines of National
Academy of Internal Aairs, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORСID ID: https://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-8681-1386
***** Candidate of legal sciences, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the department of
private and public law of the Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, Kyiv, Ukraine.
ORСID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7595-777Х
228
Valentyna Myronenko, Anzhela Kaliniuk, Kateryna Kutsyk, Anastasiia Zadorozhna y Inna Kovalenko
Social and legal protection of orphans and children left without parental care under martial law
Protección social y jurídica de los huérfanos y los niños
privados del cuidado de sus padres bajo la ley marcial
Resumen
Mediante el uso de métodos cientícos generales como la cognicacion
y de la reexión propia de la losofía jurídica, el artículo cientíco está
dedicado al estudio de las peculiaridades de la protección legal de los
huérfanos y niños privados del cuidado de los padres en Ucrania. En
este orden de ideas, se formula la denición de orfandad, así como la
protección sociojurídica de la infancia, se denen las principales etapas
de la protección sociojurídica de la infancia, se establecen los principios
generales para garantizar los derechos familiares del niño en el sistema de
su protección. Tambien, se enfatizó que la protección social y legal de los
huérfanos y los niños que quedan sin el cuidado de los padres, debe tener
en cuenta el enfoque estatal y tener lugar en las condiciones de una nueva
familia adoptiva, tutelar y adoptiva. Se concluye que, la optimización de las
actividades del Estado en esta área radica en la formación de un sistema
efectivo, cuya base es el mecanismo de interacción socialmente coordinada
de las autoridades regionales y la sociedad en su conjunto.
Palabras clave: derechos de familia; huérfanos bajo ley marcial; cuidado
de los padres; protección social y jurídica; derecho a la
educación.
Introduction
The modern stage of Ukraine’s development is characterized by the
implementation of a socially oriented policy aimed at protecting and
protecting families with children, providing them with comprehensive
assistance and support. Special treatment of the family, priority protection
of the rights and interests of its members, provision of a wide variety of
support measures are dened as priority directions in national normative
acts devoted to issues of family policy implementation. The growing role of
the family in society, raising the authority of parenthood in the family and
society, preventing and overcoming family adversity, improving conditions
and improving the quality of life of families are of great social importance
for Ukraine.
The fundamental provisions aimed at the implementation of social
guarantees for families with children, ensuring conditions for decent
upbringing of children, are formulated in Art. Art. 1 3 of the Constitution
of Ukraine (Constitution Of Ukraine, 1996), which reveals the social nature
of the Ukrainian state, directs state bodies, parents and families to create
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 41 Nº 77 (2023): 227-242
proper (decent) conditions for the upbringing of the young generation,
which contribute to achieving such a standard of living, when the basic
needs of children will be fully satised.
At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the social value of
Art. 3 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which declares the highest value of the
rights and freedoms of every person, the observance of which is the duty of
the state. Also in Part 3 of Art. 52 states that the maintenance and education
of orphans and children deprived of parental care is entrusted to the state
(Constitution Of Ukraine, 1996).
The state’s close attention to the family, concern for the needs of
families with children was clearly manifested in the conditions of the war
in Ukraine, because the society was faced with previously unknown life
circumstances, when every family found itself in conditions that violate the
usual way of life: many parents were left without work, no income, children
do not attend preschools and educational institutions, they are forced to
study at home.
There is no doubt that under such conditions families with children suer
the most. In addition, due to the war in Ukraine, thousands of children
remain orphans, lose contact with their relatives and nd themselves in
dicult life circumstances. Therefore, the problems of social orphanhood
are more relevant today than ever.
A dicult economic situation has developed in the country during the
war, which aects all spheres of life (Tolkachova, 2015). According to the
latest sociological research, Ukraine is on the verge of a demographic crisis,
as its population is shrinking not only due to a drop in the birth rate, an
increase in mortality, but also in connection with the forced migration of
the Ukrainian population to other countries due to the Russian invasion of
the territory of our country.
Therefore, the state creates a wide legal eld for social service workers
and social work specialists to successfully fulll their duties in solving tasks
of social support for children who are in a dicult life situation. These
tasks lead to the achievement of the main goal - the preservation and
multiplication of the gene pool of Ukraine (Barabash, 2022).
During the war in our country, every Ukrainian child, without exception,
in any case suered violations of their legally enshrined rights. Even
if the child is not physically harmed, the child has not been subjected to
exploitation prejudicial to any aspect of the child’s well-being, sexual abuse,
torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
there is a violation of the child’s fundamental rights (Drobyazko, 2023).
Under such conditions, it is necessary to determine the key role of
the state in providing assistance and support to poorly protected and
230
Valentyna Myronenko, Anzhela Kaliniuk, Kateryna Kutsyk, Anastasiia Zadorozhna y Inna Kovalenko
Social and legal protection of orphans and children left without parental care under martial law
unprotected sections of the population, in particular through the adoption
of various normative acts that regulate the support of families in conditions
of military aggression and volunteer movements.
The state’s activities should be aimed at protecting various spheres of
family life, providing them with the necessary information about specic
types of assistance, methods of their provision, etc. In view of this, it is
important to outline the main directions of social security for orphans and
children deprived of parental care, especially in the conditions of war and
internal migration through the territory of Ukraine.
1. Methodology of the study
Theoretical knowledge about the socio-legal protection of orphans and
children left without parental care in the conditions of martial law reects
the subject of research in the perspective of universal internal essential
connections and regularities that are highlighted by the rational processing
of normative legal acts and scientic views. The validity and reliability of
scientic results was ensured by the use of philosophical, general scientic,
special and specic scientic methods of cognition.
In particular, the formal-dogmatic method became the basis for the
scientic elaboration of normative legal acts, the disclosure of their essence,
the formation of ways of improving legislation in the researched area.
Scientic-legal, practical information, as well as the prospects of socio-legal
protection of orphans and children left without parental care, are claried
by applying the methods of analysis, synthesis and logical approach.
2. Analysis of recent research
Protecting the rights of children and ensuring their full development
is a problem of national importance, which is studied in various contexts:
historical, cultural, demographic, sociological, pedagogical and, of course,
legal. We are talking about the establishment by certain laws and other
normative legal acts of certain rules, norms, provisions, standards and
requirements regarding the organization of the child’s life.
The problem of the development of legislation on children’s rights has
received the attention of many scientists who were engaged in research in
the eld of law and in other elds of knowledge. In particular, it should
be noted the works of O. Barabash, K. Drobyazko, V. Marchuk, N. Lucić,
E. HendersonDekort, V. Chernega (Barabash, 2022; Drobyazko, 2023;
Marchuk, 2022; Lucić, 2021; HendersonDekort et al., 2021; Chernega et
al., 2021) and others.
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Vol. 41 Nº 77 (2023): 227-242
In view of the subject of the research, the scientic positions of the
mentioned scientists are used in the article as those devoted mainly to the
issues of the general normative legal framework in the eld of state policy
on the protection of children’s rights, certain aspects of the development of
juvenile law, and the civil legal basis of the regulation of issues related to
the protection orphans and children left without parental care.
3. Results and discussion
Childhood is the stage when fundamental qualities and personality
traits are formed in an individual, which ensure psychological stability,
positive moral orientation towards people, vitality and purposefulness.
The mentioned spiritual qualities of the personality are not formed
spontaneously, they are formed in the conditions of parental love, when the
family creates in the child the need to be recognized, the ability to empathize
and rejoice with other people, to be responsible for himself and others.
In recent decades, the protection and well-being of children during
conict has become an important part of the international community’s
agenda. In this way, a number of norms and standards were developed that
form a legal framework for the protection of children in armed conict.
Children growing up in the conditions of war are protected by the norms of
international humanitarian law as part of the civilian population. However,
given the vulnerability and developmental needs of children, children have
special protections. Some guarantees provided by international legal acts
have become part of customary law.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Art. 20) provides for
special assistance and protection provided by the state to a child temporarily
or permanently deprived by his family of normal living conditions and
development of interests (Convention On The Rights Of The Child, 1989).
The rights of the child at the international level, which regulate and
guarantee the protection of its interests, are enshrined in the Declaration of
Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, recognized
by most countries of the world.
Also, the Convention orders all states to take all necessary legislative,
administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from
all forms of physical or mental violence, insult or abuse, lack of care or
negligent and rough treatment, exploitation, including sexual abuse
by parents, legal guardians and guardians. The main provisions of this
document of the international level are also reected in the legal acts of the
countries that have signed it, regulating the rights of children within these
countries.
232
Valentyna Myronenko, Anzhela Kaliniuk, Kateryna Kutsyk, Anastasiia Zadorozhna y Inna Kovalenko
Social and legal protection of orphans and children left without parental care under martial law
An important area of activity in the eld of protection of children’s rights
is the improvement of national legislation, the ratication of conventions,
in particular the implementation of the provisions of international law.
Ukraine is a party to a number of international documents in the eld
of ensuring children’s rights, however, it is worth admitting that in the
conditions of martial law it is extremely dicult to implement the functions
entrusted to the state to ensure the protection of children’s rights.
The structure of social and legal protection of childhood consists of four
stages: local, regional, state, international. This system is a complex of social
institutions that regulates their work, regulatory documents, children’s
rights, mechanisms for the implementation and protection of these rights.
Children’s rights cover two areas: personal rights (name, citizenship,
private life, inviolability of housing, rest and leisure, health care, etc.) and
the right to education. Legislative, administrative, social and educational
reforms are proposed among the main measures to protect childhood
(Kolomoets, 2018).
At the state level, the protection of the rights of children left without
parental care is carried out by the Constitution - the highest legislative
act of the state. One of its fundamental principles is the protection and
protection of motherhood, childhood and the family, which are entrusted
directly to the state. All children have the right to protection and special
care from state authorities and local self-government bodies (Constitution
Of Ukraine, 1996).
At the same time, there is a special category of children that needs
increased care from the state these are orphans and children left without
parental care. Such protection should really ensure the full development
and life of children, their place in society.
In connection with hostilities, terrorist attacks by Russian troops on the
civilian population and mass evacuation, the number of children whose
parents have died or whose fate and whereabouts are unknown is increasing.
The current regulations did not provide an opportunity to accommodate
such children to family forms of upbringing.
Moreover, the procedure for placing children under guardianship or
guardianship of relatives requires the provision of such a large number of
documents that, under martial law, their collection requires extraordinary
eorts. At the same time, it is very important for children traumatized by
war and loss of contact with their parents to be in conditions as close as
possible to family ones.
Therefore, in March 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine worked
out a decision that allows such a child to be temporarily placed in a foster
family or a family-type orphanage or under the guardianship or care of
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relatives under a simplied procedure during martial law. This will ensure
the best interests of the child until it is known for sure what happened to
their parents.
State support measures for orphans and children left without parental
care in Ukraine are regulated by the Law of Ukraine «On Ensuring
Organizational and Legal Conditions for the Social Protection of Orphans
and Children Deprived of Parental Care», which denes guarantees that
apply to almost all aspects of life minors and persons equated to them (On
Ensuring Organizational And Legal Conditions For Social Protection Of
Orphans And Children Deprived Of Parental Care, 2020).
By exercising the right to education for children who need social
assistance, the state fully or partially covers the cost of their maintenance
during the education period. The law provides for the admission of orphans
and children left without parental care to educational institutions of all
levels without competition, but on the condition of successfully passing
entrance exams.
This category of children is enrolled in full state support until they
graduate from primary, secondary and higher education institutions. In
addition, they are paid a social stipend, regardless of their performance.
Therefore, the state gives children the opportunity to realize themselves in
education, without thinking about how to feed themselves.
Employment is equally important for a child. The main task of the state
in this direction is to provide orphans and children left without parental
care, equal opportunities in the right to work and in choosing a profession.
For this purpose, they are provided (in the form of special bodies) with a
whole set of various measures regarding professional training, quotas and
incentives for employers to hire such persons, preservation of certain types
of professional activities for former children of orphanages and boarding
schools.
Also, at the constitutional level, the duty of the state to raise and educate
harmonious individuals who also have good physical health is determined.
In this regard, orphans and children left without parental care are provided
with free medical care and prompt treatment in any medical and preventive
institution (Yarygina, 2016). Regular medical examinations (dispensary
examinations) and the necessary rehabilitation of children are carried
out with the funds of the budgets of all levels. They are provided with free
tickets to school and student sports and health camps, to sanatorium-resort
facilities in the presence of medical indicators, free travel to the place of
rest, treatment and back is provided.
One of the most important issues faced by graduates of institutions for
orphans and children left without parental care is the issue of providing
housing. Protection of housing rights of minors consists in securing and
234
Valentyna Myronenko, Anzhela Kaliniuk, Kateryna Kutsyk, Anastasiia Zadorozhna y Inna Kovalenko
Social and legal protection of orphans and children left without parental care under martial law
providing housing to each ward. State bodies monitor the actual use of the
housing stock intended for this category of persons until they come of age,
and control is also carried out during the conclusion of agreements with
such residential premises belonging to minor graduates.
According to Art. 252 of the Family Code of Ukraine, guardianship over
a child is temporary care, upbringing and rehabilitation of a child in the
family of a foster carer for the period when the child, his parents or other
legal representatives overcome dicult life circumstances (Family Code Of
Ukraine, 2002).
The purpose of patronage is to ensure the protection of the rights of a
child who, due to dicult life circumstances, is temporarily unable to live
with his parents/legal representatives, to provide him and his family with
services aimed at reintegrating the child into the family or providing the
child with an appropriate status for making further decisions taking into
account the best interests of the child in ensuring his right to upbringing in
the family or in conditions as close as possible to family ones.
Issues arising in connection with the establishment, implementation
and termination of guardianship and care of orphans and children left
without parental care are regulated by the Family Code of Ukraine, the Civil
Code Of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine «On State Assistance to Families with
children» (Family Code Of Ukraine, 2002; Civil Code Of Ukraine, 2003;
On State Assistance To Families With Children: Law of Ukraine, 1992) and
normative legal acts adopted in accordance with this Law, which specify
and clarify the provisions of the law and other
In view of the introduction of martial law in Ukraine on February
24, 2022, the Rules for crossing the state border by citizens of Ukraine
clarify and clarify the provisions of the law). One of these documents is
the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine «Some issues of
protection of children’s rights and provision of child guardianship services»
No. 893 dated 20.08.2021, which approves the Procedure for the creation
and activity of a family of a foster parent, placement, stay of a child in the
family of a foster parent educator, as well as a list of types of activities and
services provided by organizations for orphans and children left without
parental care (Resolution Of The Cabinet Of Ministers Of Ukraine No. 893,
2021).
Important documents in this direction are also: Decree of the Cabinet
of Ministers of Ukraine «Some issues of mentoring a child» No. 465 of
04.07.2017 (Decree Of The Cabinet Of Ministers Of Ukraine No. 465, 2017),
Order of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine «On approval of the Model
procedure for the transfer of documentation regarding children orphans,
children deprived of parental care, and persons from their number,
children who are in dicult life circumstances, from services for children’s
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 41 Nº 77 (2023): 227-242
aairs of district state administrations to services for children’s aairs
of executive bodies of city councils, village and settlement councils» No.
48 dated 06.02.2021 (Order Of The Ministry Of Social Policy Of Ukraine
No. 48, 2021), Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine «Some
issues of providing housing for orphans, children deprived of parental care,
persons from their number and support of small group homes» No. 615
dated 26.05.2021 (Resolution Of The Cabinet Of Ministers Of Ukraine. No.
615, 2021) and others.
It should also be noted that the Rules for crossing the state border by
citizens of Ukraine, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of
Ukraine No. 5737 of 01.27.1995, are supplemented by provisions on the
peculiarities of crossing the state border in the event of the introduction of
a state of emergency or martial law on the territory of Ukraine.
In particular, orphans, children deprived of parental care, who have
not reached the age of 18 and live or are enrolled in institutions of various
types, forms of ownership and subordination for round-the-clock stay, may
leave Ukraine accompanied by a legal representative or another person
authorized by him and in the presence of relevant documents.
That is, the departure of orphans, children deprived of parental care,
who have not reached the age of 18, outside of Ukraine is carried out
accompanied by one of their legal representatives, subject to the written
consent of the children’s service at the place of application or the children’s
service of the regional military (military -civil) administration for departure
with an indication of the state of nal stay of the children (Resolution
Cabinet Of Ministers Of Ukraine No. 5737, 1995).
In addition, on March 17, 2022, the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers
of Ukraine «On the Formation of the Coordination Headquarters for the
Protection of Children’s Rights in Martial Law» No. 302 entered into force,
according to which the main tasks of the Coordination Headquarters, as a
temporary advisory body of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, created for
facilitating the coordination of the activities of central and local executive
bodies, other state bodies, local self-government bodies on the protection of
children’s rights under martial law, are:
• coordination of actions of executive authorities, local self-
government bodies regarding the organization of evacuation of
children, in particular children with disabilities, orphans, children
deprived of parental care, minors living or enrolled in institutions of
various types, forms of ownership and subordination for round-the-
clock stay, who are arranged for upbringing and cohabitation with a
foster family, a family-type orphanage, who are under guardianship,
care, who are arranged with families of foster carers, from dangerous
areas, as well as creating safe conditions for their stay;
236
Valentyna Myronenko, Anzhela Kaliniuk, Kateryna Kutsyk, Anastasiia Zadorozhna y Inna Kovalenko
Social and legal protection of orphans and children left without parental care under martial law
• coordination of the actions of the executive authorities regarding
the placement and satisfaction of the needs of children evacuated to
safe regions of Ukraine and those relocated to states of temporary
stay;
• control over the consular registration of children in the state of
their temporary accommodation and determination of ways,
mechanisms and methods of solving problematic issues that arise
during the consular registration of children, and ensuring the return
of children to Ukraine after the cessation of hostilities;
• determination of ways and means of solving problematic issues
regarding the protection of children’s rights in the conditions of
martial law;
• informing citizens of Ukraine and the international community
about the situation and needs for the protection of children under
martial law, etc. (Resolution Cabinet Of Ministers Of Ukraine No.
302, 2022).
An important step for the protection of children during martial law was
the introduction by the Oce of the President of Ukraine together with
the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF Ukraine and the Ministry of
Social Policy of the national program «The child is not alone».
The program is a chatbot – a resource for helping children in wartime,
thanks to which you can get answers to any questions about the temporary
shelter of a child in a family, the search for a lost child; and also every
concerned person can report cases known to him of a child being unattended.
Also, the mentioned resource contains useful information for people who
are not aware of how to protect the rights of children in the conditions of
martial law (Drobyazko, 2023).
There is no doubt that solving the problem of orphans requires taking
into account the relevant social, political and economic aspects of the
current state of the country, since these aspects have changed for the worse
during the war. Experts and statistics indicate that these negative factors
now outweigh the positive ones, so the number of children who ended up
in orphanages, residential institutions or were left without parental care
continues to grow (Myronova, 2020).
Of course, an eective ght against the problem of orphans and children
left without parental care requires nding out the reasons that cause it.
In our opinion, these should include: a general decline in the standard of
living of society and its degradation; disruption of family functions and
structure; increase in the number of single-parent families and divorces;
unemployment, which aects the family’s ability to maintain and raise a
child in favorable conditions; sublimation of children’s negative emotional
states; child abuse in the occupied territories.
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These factors make it harder for children to socialize, make friends, and
join a culture that suits their interests. It is also worth noting that some of
these factors directly or indirectly aect not only the deterioration of the
situation in the context of the problem of orphans, but also negatively aect
the quality of life of such groups of people as pensioners, large families,
people with disabilities, etc.
Eective development of the state is impossible without solving this set
of problems. Along with the mentioned threats, it is worth highlighting the
one that is a natural consequence of the long stay of the Ukrainian state in
the conditions of war. Children who grow up in unfavorable (sometimes
even dangerous) conditions are the generation that will be forced to enter
society in one way or another. Referring to history and statistics, as well
as taking into account the current situation in Ukraine, we can conclude
that, most likely, children will face serious diculties in the process of
socialization. Therefore, along with global social modernization, the state
needs to solve this problem as well.
Measures of state support for children left without parental care are
divided into: material (provision by the state of free accommodation in
residential institutions, clothing, food, school supplies, means of arranging
life and housing after graduation from a social state institution, free travel
in all types transport) and non-material (right to education, housing rights
of orphans, right to medical care, declaration of employment).
The organizational basis of the state policy regarding the social protection
of orphans and children left without parental care is also provided by state
authorities and local self-government bodies that carry out activities related
to the protection of children’s rights and legitimate interests.
In order for an orphan child, as well as a child left without parental care,
to feel protected not only materially, but also spiritually, he is endowed with
personal rights. First of all, the right to respect for one’s own dignity, the
right to protection from abuse by the guardian (guardian), if the child is
under guardianship (guardianship), the right to live in the family of the
guardian (guardian), the right to ensure the necessary conditions for living,
upbringing, education and all-round development at the expense of the
state.
Guided by the main international documents and normative acts
of Ukraine, which regulate activities in this direction, state authorities
should direct their work on the protection of children’s rights to: identify
and register orphans and children left without parental care; work with
orphans and their patronage in guardian families; implementation of state
guarantees regarding orphans, providing them with appropriate pensions,
payments and other subsidies provided for by law; work in court regarding
the protection of children’s rights; work to provide housing for orphans;
methodical work with social teachers and public organizations.
238
Valentyna Myronenko, Anzhela Kaliniuk, Kateryna Kutsyk, Anastasiia Zadorozhna y Inna Kovalenko
Social and legal protection of orphans and children left without parental care under martial law
Currently, state bodies, pedagogical science and practice are making
signicant eorts to solve childhood problems. New types of educational
institutions (gymnasiums, lyceums, colleges), psychological services in
educational institutions, centers of socio-pedagogical and psychological
rehabilitation are being created.
However, in our opinion, a prospective view of the organization of social
protection of childhood should not focus exclusively on social protection
bodies. Such activity requires a comprehensive approach involving the
intellectual resources of teachers, psychologists, lawyers, and doctors.
Economic support is extremely important, requiring a reasonable ratio of
economic care that extends to children’s families, welfare centers, etc.
Thus, the social protection authorities are entrusted with a responsible
duty – to ensure that orphans and children from socially vulnerable families
do not feel deprived in any way, at least in material terms, since it will be
very dicult to replace the family and family relationships dicult, almost
impossible. That is why, as well as due to the increase in the number of
children who need special government and public attention, it is necessary
to more actively use positive foreign experience to improve the legislation
on social protection of childhood in this area.
In general, we can state that today Ukraine adequately implements the
functions entrusted to it to ensure the protection of children’s rights. At the
same time, it should be emphasized that the moral duty of every citizen of
Ukraine is to help protect and implement the rights of the most vulnerable
category of persons – children, primarily orphans and children left without
parental care.
Conclusions
Social and legal protection of childhood is a direction of international
and state policy, which provides children, in accordance with their needs,
with normal conditions for life and development, protection of honor and
dignity, health care, education, active participation in all spheres of life.
The main stages of social and legal protection of childhood are dened as:
local, regional, state, international, which represent a complex of social
institutions, regulatory documents, mechanisms for the implementation
and protection of children’s personal rights (name, citizenship, personal
life, inviolability of housing, rest and leisure , health care, etc.) and the right
to education.
Ensuring the child’s family rights in the system of their protection is
based on the following general principles: non-discrimination, respect for
the child’s views, consideration of the child’s interests, the child’s right to
life, survival and development.
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In general, the state properly takes care of the interests of children in
the conditions of martial law, which is evidenced, in particular, by such
factors as: a simplied procedure for transferring a child to custody/care;
enabling children who were left without parents during martial law to
be temporarily placed with families for upbringing; «prohibition» of the
simplied adoption procedure.
Orphanage is a social phenomenon caused by the existence in society of
children whose parents have died, or children who have found themselves
without parental care due to deprivation of parental rights, recognition of
incapacity, missing persons, etc. The primary task of civil society during
the war in Ukraine is to ensure maximum protection of children’s rights
and interests.
The socio-legal protection of orphans and children left without parental
care should take into account not only the state approach, but also take
place in the conditions of a new family (foster, foster, adoptive), changing
the attitude of biological parents towards their own children. Systematic
analysis of Ukrainian legislation in this area led to the conclusion that the
legal position of the family, its status covers not only social, but also labor
guarantees.
Optimizing activities in the eld of providing social support to orphans
and children left without parental care lies in the plane of forming
an eective system, the basis of which is the mechanism of socially
coordinated interaction of regional authorities and society. Various
forms of implementation of social programs and projects require active
development: social order, tenders, contests for social projects, contests for
non-prot public organizations from various nominations, regarding social
support for orphans and children left without parental care.
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Esta revista fue editada en formato digital y publicada
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Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo-Venezuela
Vol.41 Nº 77