Social Policy of the Zemstvos of the Central Provinces of Russia for the Charity of Children in the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries

Abstract

The work explores the social policy in the field of charity for minors, due to the reform of the public administration system of the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries, and the role of zemstvos in organizing child charity. The debate on the organization of orphanages in the post-reform period is due to the scale and multifaceted nature of the changes carried out, which affected various spheres of social reality. The implementation of the Zemstvo reform raised issues of maintaining children's godly institutions by the Zemstvos, determining the procedure for receiving children in them and ensuring further improvement of the conditions for their upbringing and education in shelters. One of the key elements of the study is the scientific justification for the decision to decentralize the system of children's institutions with the transfer of authority in this area to the zemstvos. The article is devoted to the consideration of the regional specifics of the organization and financing of children's zemstvo charitable institutions on the example of the provinces of Central Russia - Kursk, Oryol, Tula, Orel and others. Consolidated data are presented on the number of abused persons, funds allocated for their maintenance and the share of expenses for charitable children's institutions in the budgets of individual zemstvos of the provinces under consideration. Special attention is paid to the effective and low-cost forms of organizing the care of children, developed in practice by zemstvos in practice in conditions of insufficient funding. On the basis of a comparative analysis, the authors concluded that the zemstvos, after the transfer of charitable children's institutions to their jurisdiction, encountered organizational and financial difficulties. Zemstvos' policy was aimed at cutting costs and was not systemic. The issues of participation of zemstvo institutions in the organization of public charity could not be resolved without large-scale state measures. The authors proved the influence of the regional aspect on the organization and financing of zemstvo orphanages, and this relationship reveals the achievements and results of the reform. Copyright © 2022 by Cherkas Global University