ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNITY NEEDS FOR CHILDREN CARE SERVICE IN FAMILY-LIKE ENVIRONMENT

Ukraine is actively developing a network of social services and improving the mechanism for their planning and creation. Communities have a good understanding of the calculation and creation of existing services. However, services that are not common in Ukraine cause difficulties in this process and slow down the development of new services. The creation and financing of social services in Ukraine is based on the program-targeted method, which involves assessing community needs for services and then calculating the costs of their maintenance or purchase. A properly conducted study of the demand for a service allows to ensure its economically justified financing. The general practice of assessing needs is based on the calculation of the demand for a service for the previous calendar year and the community's capacity to meet it, on the basis of which a decision is made on the need to develop new services or increase the capacity of existing providers. However, when it comes to services for orphans and children deprived of parental care, the established procedure does not work, as there is no procedure for children to apply for placement or provision of services. In the article, using the methods of analysis, synthesis and generalisation, the author analyses the scientific sources and regulatory documents which regulate the process of assessment the need for social services in an administrative-territorial unit, the content of the children care service in family-like environment, summarises the peculiarities of formation and determination of demand for this service, and searches for a procedure for determining its need. The purpose of the article is to analyse and summarise the procedure for assessing the community's needs for children's care service in a family-like environment in a small group home.