Legal and Socio-Psychological Aspects of Creating a Unified Organization Model for Orphans and Children Left without Parental Care

<p style="text-align: justify;">The main direction of social policy in Russia is the deinstitutionalization of children placed in institutions as a result of separation from their parents. In the last decade, the system of institutions for orphans and children left without parental care has been reformed: change of departmental affiliation, improvement of living conditions, additional functions, and so on. Family placement of orphans and prevention of social orphanhood have led to a significant reduction in the number of children in institutionalized settings (32 thousand in 2024) and one of the pressing issues today is the expediency of creating a Unified model organization (UMO) for this category of children and the possibility of combining it with other institutions working with children in difficult life situations. Together with the legal and organizational problems of creating a UМО, there is a question of compatibility of children with different legal status, medical diagnoses, educational and social needs in one educational group or one institution. The article contains the results of the assessment of the socio-psychological consequences of the introduction of UMO from the point of view of organization managers (N=176 people) and psychologists (N=119 people), and possible risks when merging institutions.</p>