LIFE TRAJECTORIES OF PARENTS WHO'S PARENTAL RIGHTS WERE TERMINATED: THE SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

The article presents the results of a sociological research conducted in 2016 in the Belgorod, Saratov regions and the Trans-Baikal Territory and includes two stages. On the first stage there was the expert survey (n=25), where the informants were employees of the guardianship authorities; social services; education, health care and law institutions. The research could examine the most typical causes which reproduced social orphanhood such as poverty, unemployment, mass labor migration from rural areas to big cities; increasing number of families at risk; placement of children in out-of-home care, and as a consequence, the termination of parental rights (TPR). On the second stage there was a survey of parents whose parental rights were terminated (n=350) in the above regions in order to identify the main causes of TPR, as well as the parents’ attitude to TPR preceding and their life trajectories after it in the context of life course theory. The vast majority of parents lost custody on their children due to substance abuse (80.0 %); inappropriate parenting (12.0 %); child abuse and neglect (6.0 %); poor health and voluntary refusal. The results of the survey could help to divide all informants into four main groups referring to their life trajectories after TPR: (1) in the first group most of parents (87.1 %) did not have clearly articulated goals for the further life perspective and did not make any attempts to change their life style and return the custody of their children; (2) parents of the second group showed the intention to change the situation in the next marriage, parenting other children; (3) in the third group informants demonstrate the potential to return their children, making positive personality changes; (4) respondents of the fourth group, whose children were in kinship care had very low motivation to restoration of their parental rights. Keywords: life course; life trajectories; termination of parental rights (TPR); children left without parental care; sociological research.