SOCIAL AND LEGAL PROTECTION OF CHILDREN IN NEED IN GREAT BRITAIN AND UKRAINE

Introduction. Human rights are the basic things we all need in order to live with dignity: food, housing, education and health care; the right to spend time and communicate with others, to access information, form opinions, express ourselves, and hold religious beliefs; and the right to be free from violence, exploitation and abuse. Everyone, including children, has these rights just because they are human, no matter what their circumstances. Human rights mean that children must be respected as the people they are today, not just when they reach 18. Purpose of the article is to study the level of children's welfare in Great Britain and in Ukraine, to compare the reasons of children being neglected or in need, the ways of solving problem of this category of children. Results. In recent years Ukraine has seen a positive trend of increasing the number of foster families and family-type homes and the number of children in them. According to data from regions in Ukraine, the family care (guardianship, foster families and family-type homes) reached 73,212 orphans and children deprived of parental care, which is 0.3% more than last year. Вut there are still many proplems which remain to be discussed. That's why the country is looking for new decision of improving children's welfare system via adopting experience from other countries which have already reached positive results in this area. Originality. The article highlights the tendencies in children's welfare system in Great Britain and in Ukraine, describes its strong and weak points. It also states the actions that may be carried out to strengthen the state's social welfare sector. Comparison of children welfare in Britain and Ukraine are suggested in the article. Comparative analysis of the term “children in need” and “parental responsibilities” in Ukraine and in Great Britain is offered in the article. Conclusions. Child protection is a fundamental part of safeguarding children. Welfare of children in need is carried out in Britain and in Ukraine in different ways. But each is aimed to protect children, their rights and to give an opportunity to live in a family (either in biological or foster one). The number of children in need is growing every year and the states are looking for the new ways of improving children's welfare. In particular by offering different types of assistance, placement into different types of foster care, improving laws, increasing budgetary allocations to government agencies responsible for social care, investing the human resources within the social protection system to increase size, competency and reach of staff form both government and non-governmental service providers; developing regulations and institutions etc. Ukraine welfare policy is aimed to improve the system of institutional care, introduce preventive measures to avoid an orphanhood. Study and adopting the experience of foreign countries are also useful and perspective.