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Volunteering is popular among young people in Ukraine. This is especially important for the communities, neighboring the area of the Joint Forces Operation in the East of Ukraine. However, one of the current challenges for the volunteer program development has been quarantine restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The main goal of the article is to analyze the participation of young people in volunteer programs during the quarantine restrictions related to COVID-19, in the communities neighboring the area of the Joint Forces Operation in the East of Ukraine. The authors of the study used the "rapid appraisal" technique. Thus, in May 2020, the authors interviewed 22 representatives of state and non-government organizations of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine which implemented youth volunteer projects. The study revealed challenges caused by quarantine restrictive measures which have been grouped by authors into two groups: organizational and methodological. The answers of the respondents provided the basis to identify the positive outcomes caused by the change of the usual format of youth volunteer programs and its development: mastering of distant forms of communication by employees; development of qualitatively new ideas and introducing training programs for volunteers; increasing the ability to use the Internet to promote volunteer programs; practicing online volunteering.

The purpose of this article is to provide recommendations for social workers and social field practitioners of state and non-governmental organizations working with families affected by HIV/AIDS. The article identifies a series of crisis stages of families affected by HIV/AIDS. Families caring for HIV-positive children go through four crisis stages. The first stage comes after the report about an unconfirmed possibility that a child has HIV. The second stage is when the diagnosis confirms the child’s HIV positive status. The third stage coincides with the first signs of opportunistic infections in the child. The fourth stage is associated with the progression of the disease and the development of the fourth clinical stage of HIV infection. At each of these stages, families need medical, psychological, and social support. In line with professional support, an effective method of assistance and a way to overcome a crisis can be self-help groups, in which people learn to voice their difficulties and problems, seek support or provide it to other families. Using the results of the study gained through focus groups with social work practitioners from various regions of Ukraine, the authors developed recommendations on supporting families affected by HIV/AIDS.

A pivotal feature of the vulnerability of families, in which there are persons who use psychoactive substances, is that such persons develop dependent behavior. It leads to serious violations of physical and mental health, loss of social contacts, etc. The roots of the addictive mechanisms of any addition should be sought in the childhood, in the peculiarities of upbringing, in the behavior of parents or one of them. The purpose of this article is to determine and substantiate the risk factors for the formation of addictive behavior in children and young people from the use of psychoactive substances. The results of the expert survey authors have joined a group of risk factors for developing children and young dependent behavior of the use of a couple of groups of "biological factors", "psychological factors", "family", "impact of peers", "impact of educational institution", "social influence" as well as proposed protective mechanisms for each of the groups. The study brings results of our own research in this area. A well-founded theory served as the basis for collecting data both at the theoretical level and at the level of processing the results of expert interviews. Determined by expert interviews risk factors for developing children and young people dependent on substance use behavior made it possible to develop a model needs assessment and decision on the future of social work with people who use psychoactive substances and their families.