CREATING FAMILY-LIKE CONDITIONS IN SMALL GROUP HOMES

Abstract

The article reveals the reasons for the creation of small group homes in the process of reforming the system of institutional care and upbringing of children, despite the priority of family forms of upbringing; the signs of introduction of child care and upbringing services in them in conditions close to family ones are identified on the basis of foreign and domestic experience of development of small group homes in Bulgaria and Poland. The relevance of the study is due to the implementation of the reform of institutional care and upbringing of children in Ukraine, which provides for the realisation of the right of every child to be brought up in a family. The purpose of the article is to identify, based on the analysis of domestic and foreign experience of small group homes, the signs of creating family-like conditions in them. Based on the analysis of regulatory documents, statistical data, scientific publications and the described practical experience of small group homes, the author reveals the signs of conditions close to family-like conditions and identifies the risks of the emergence of institutional culture in institutions with a small number of children and equipped as a regular residential building. The analysis of the functioning of small group homes in Bulgaria showed that dividing children into small groups and creating family-like living conditions is not enough to avoid signs of institutional culture. The Polish experience and the experience of the first small group home "My Home" in the Dnipro region have shown that creating a family atmosphere depends on the use of methods of work with children, meeting the individual needs of the child, strengthening his or her potential, establishing trusting relationships between the child and the educator responsible for working with him or her; preserving the child's family relationships, introducing children's self-government, having rules for organising the life of the home that are understandable to children, ensuring their participation in decision-making on their own, a special culture of communication between children and staff, established traditions and values, and the organisation of everyday life as a family.