Social policy for orphans and children left without parental care in post-Soviet countries

The article reviews the theoretical approaches to the study of family policies and child protection systems. Based on the literature analysis and theory of path-dependency, as well as the on the approach proposed by V. Schmidt, a theoretical model of social policy for orphans and children left without parental care was developed. The expert survey method was used to obtain the data on the current state of social policy for orphans in post-Soviet countries. The empirical study demonstrated that the general basis of social policy in the post-Soviet countries is the deinstitutionalization of orphans and children left without parental care. Also, a number of problems in the sphere of child rights observance typical for the post-Soviet countries were revealed.