Psychological and pedagogical features of work with a substitute family in the conditions of using distance technologies

In recent years, a great training experience of substitute parenting was accumulated and summarized, which suggests that along with the growth in the number of foster families, the number of families who do not fully comprehend their decision to take a child into their family and have no real understanding of their own resources is also growing, which leads to an increase in the number of children returning to orphanages. This publication examines the psychological and pedagogical features of training substitute parents with the active use of various electronic distance learning models due to restrictive measures caused by the pandemic. The article is devoted to the use of modern digital technologies in the remote form of training substitute parents as an important factor in the intensification and increase in the educational activity of students. The study was conducted on the basis of methods of included observation, content analysis, generalization, comparison and specification of information. Experience in conducting training courses for professionals who work with substitute families allows to note that the implementation and detailed analysis of the current distance technologies can improve learning efficiency and interest of teachers to self-knowledge, including the comprehension of professional activity motives, promote appropriate action planning, informed decision-making and achievement of goals through the formation of independent work skills that is of great importance in the context of e-learning models. These technologies, when applied correctly, motivate specialists to improve their professional and creative potential, which, in turn, significantly improves the quality of the educational process. The results of this study can be used when conducting schools for substitute parents using distance technologies, and should be also included in the advanced training course for specialists working with substitute families. Thus, distance learning is a promising direction for the development of substitute parents’ education. The use of distance learning technologies in the process of their training contributes to the competent organization of the educational process, improves the quality of education in general.