The article analyses the main reasons for formation of ethnically mixed families. The attitude of the society towards such families is discussed and the main obstacles for adaptation to the new environment are identified. On the basis of the quality research results, it can be stated that love remains the main motives for marriage between individuals from different cultures. An assumption is made that interaction between cultures of both spouses result in a new and unique culture.

The article analyses the most essential social factors that determine reasons for juvenile crime. Following the results of the research conducted in Kaunas Juvenile Remand Prison and Correction House, the main social and reasons that determine the juvenile violations of law were identified. These factors are important from legal and sociopedagogical point of view. The legal aspect is relevant because the court, interpreting juvenile criminal acts, handing down convictions and pronouncing an appropriate sentence to a juvenile, has to consider his/her living and education conditions, health situation and social maturity, the surrounding environment, his/her own characteristics and those of close to him/her people . Such position is provided for in international legal acts that contain mandatory or recommendable provisions in the sphere of criminal law: “the background and circumstances in which the juvenile is living or the conditions under which the offence has been committed shall be properly investigated “. Thus, an increasingly bigger attention is paid not only to the commitment of a criminal act but also to investigation of causality of this act. In terms of sociopedagogy, the analysis of social factors may contribute to complex solutions to juvenile crime prevention and to involvement of all participants of education process, school community: educators, school administration, social educators, psychologists, law enforcement officials, parents and children themselves.

On the basis of the quantitative research results and analysis of scientific literature, the possibilities for elderly individuals’ social activity in the Union of Lithuanian Pensioners “Bočiai“ are revealed. The definition and indicators of demographic ageing process are analysed. The main goals and objectives of the Union of Lithuanian Pensioners “Bočiai“ are introduced. Nowadays elderly people may expect to live long without losing possibilities to realise their leisure, cognition, communication interests and hobbies. The Union of Lithuanian Pensioners “Bočiai“ is one of the organisations, which reveals the possibilities for elderly individuals’ involvement in social activity in Lithuania best.

Child’s custody and guardianship facilitate implementation of child’s rights to protection, provision and involvement, when his/her parents are incapable or unwilling to assume this duty. One of the priority forms of child’s custody includes foster families, where an attempt is made to ensure such conditions which are needed for his/her physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development (Vaiko gerovės valstybės politikos koncepcija, Official Gazette, 30 05 2003, No. 52-2316). The goal of this article is to discuss peculiarities of child’s custody in a foster family. The first part deals with preconditions for foster family emergence, mechanisms of its establishment and financing; the second part of the article presents data of the empirical research, which reveal expression of foster parents’ competences fostering children.