FAMILY POLICY IN UKRAINE: NEW APPROACHES TO ITS DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION

Abstract

Throughout its entire history, family policy has largely demonstrated a readiness to respond to emerging challenges, trends, prospects, and transformations. In light of Ukraine’s European integration process, state family policy must be implemented in accordance with the principles and values of the EU, as enshrined in its Directives, regulations, and recommendations. These principles have already been partially incorporated into the majority of strategic documents adopted in Ukraine. However, continuous societal transformations necessitate a revision of certain approaches to the formulation and implementation of family policy. The aim of the present study is to elucidate new approaches to the further development and implementation of family policy — with particular emphasis on pronatalist policy — in Ukraine, taking into account the experience of EU member states and ongoing demographic changes. The novelty of the study lies in the identification and characterisation of new approaches within family policy in Ukraine. The research employs such methods as analysis and synthesis of scholarly literature, systematisation and generalisation of family policy experience in developed countries and in Ukraine, as well as bibliographic analysis. Among the proposed approaches are: the inadmissibility of any form of pressure or coercion in reproductive decisionmaking; respect for individual choice; and, concurrently, the fostering of a responsible attitude towards decisions concerning reproductive plans, motherhood/fatherhood, and the organisation of family life — an attitude that must be grounded in awareness and informed understanding of the consequences of such decisions. Key characteristics that family policy should embody include the provision of support for family not at individual stages of its development, but throughout the entire family life course; a comprehensive character, accompanied by a diversity of instruments and policy directions, coherence among them and with other policy domains, timely adaptation, and consistency of action alongside continuous policy improvement. In evaluating family policy measures, objective indicators should be combined with subjective assessments, with preference given to the latter in cases of conflicting results. State child benefits must be regarded exclusively as investments in children’s development, rather than as incentives for childbearing. Adherence to these and other principles and approaches will not only contribute to raising the quality of family policy, but will also exert a positive influence on the formation of public trust in the state.

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