Preparing Foster Parents: What Competencies Are Needed Today to Raise a Foster Child

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Abstract

The article is devoted to the discussion of the formation of new competencies for candidates for foster parents (adoptive parents, guardians, trustees, adoptive parents) necessary to create conditions for family care for foster children and represent their legitimate interests. The article presents the results of monitoring by the Ministry of Education of Russia (2019 and 2022) on the activities of Schools for foster parents in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The monitoring was carried out in order to study the compliance of the activities of authorized organizations with the requirements and recommendations of federal legislation, as well as the forms of work used in the preparation of potential candidates for foster parents. The monitoring analysis is supplemented by the data of a public opinion poll conducted among the participants of the All-Russian Forum of Foster Parents (2023), which revealed a trend towards an increase in the request from foster parents to change the content of the program of foster parents' schools, and also focused on topics in insufficient detail (according to according to the respondents) presented in the training program, but necessary for the effective management of situations related to the care of orphans and children left without parental care.

General Information

Keywords: foster child; orphans; school of foster parents; training of candidates for foster parents; competencies of foster parents; adoptive parents

Journal rubric: Pedagogy and Psychology of Education

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/ssc.2023040104

Acknowledgements. The authors are grateful to the Department of State Policy for the Protection of Children's Rights of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation for providing monitoring data, Doctor of Psychology G.V. Semya and the General Director of the ANO "Center for the Development of Social Projects" A.G. Popov.

Received: 04.07.2023

Accepted:

For citation: Merkul I.A., Mashkova D.V. Preparing Foster Parents: What Competencies Are Needed Today to Raise a Foster Child [Elektronnyi resurs]. Sotsial’nye nauki i detstvo = Social Sciences and Childhood, 2023. Vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 59–78. DOI: 10.17759/ssc.2023040104. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Irina A. Merkul, PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor, Chair of “Developmental Psychology named after Professor L.F. Obukhova”, Faculty of Psychology in Education, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3808-6076, e-mail: merkulia@mgppu.ru

Diana V. Mashkova, PhD in Philology, founder, ANO "ABC’s of Family", IPPC RAE "Institute for the Study of Childhood, Family and Upbringing", Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8727-4597, e-mail: diana@azbukasemi.ru

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