Straipsnyje pasitelkus filosofų, sociologų, edukologų teorines įžvalgas analizuo-jami „auginimo“ ir „globos“ reiškiniai, jų tarpusavio sąveika, pagrindžiamas jų papildomumas. Pastarųjų dešimtmečių ugdymo(si) paradigmų kaita ir naujos ugdymo tendencijos praplečia glo-bos ugdomosios funkcijos raišką, apimdamos visus vaiko raidos tarpsnius ir socialinės realybės situacijas. Autorės, pasiremdamos literatūros šaltinių ir atlikto empirinio tyrimo įžvalgomis, atskleidžia, kad ne giminės vaikų globa yra tam tikro komunikacinio santykio „globėjas – vaikas“ kūrimas(is). Šis santykis kaip socialinis fenomenas apima į vaiko ugdymą(si) orientuotų veiklų ir globėjo identiteto kūrimosi dermę. Nustatyta, kad globos ugdomoji funkcija reiškiasi esant tam tikroms ugdymo(si) sąlygoms: abipusiu vaiko ir jo globėjo dialogu; pasiruošimo, susipažinimo, krizės ir adaptacijos etapais; globėjo išsiugdytais gebėjimais ir vertybėmis.

In the article foster families are presented as participants of social relationship. Making references to content analysis of scientific literature, civil law, periodicals and pilot experiment the attitudes of participants of foster families to foster families as an institution, their mission and connections are revealed. Foster families are seen as an alternative to governmental institutional care and have all features of the third economical sector. In Lithuania foster families exist for more than 20 years, they have undergone many changes. The tendency of partnership was expressed recently by establishing associations of foster families, which represent cases of common interests. Associations do not only supply foster families with necessary information and educational support, but they have a potential to developing entrepreneurship.

The article disputes the childcare system of two Eastern European countries – Lithuania and Hungary. The criterion of comparisons is the model of transition from institutional care to community-based development or de-institutionalization. This model is recommended by the United Nations documents and European Union expert groups. According to the guidelines of United Nations Children’s Rights and Disability Rights Conventions, and other human rights instruments, the institutionalization is increasingly recognized as a flawy policy and a violation of human rights, especially ones of a child. In the article historical (content analysis) and statistical data analysis methods are used. The historical context approves that Hungary has longer tradition of bringing up orphan children in families. But Soviet policies to educate citizens of collective identity at boarding schools draw similarities between these countries. The reorganisation of Child care systems started at 1997–1998 in both countries, but until now the child care system of Hungary is more advanced compared to Lithuanian. It allows a greater proportion of children without parental care to grow up in families and creates a family environment for children in institutions. The socio-economic regimes in the Visegrad countries differ from the Baltic States in some major aspects and the number of children in alternative care is one of the symptoms of low citizenship and responsiveness. Due to lower achievements in Lithuania, the education of adults and cultural activities are recommended in order to overcome communication gap.