Abstract: The article discusses the issues of organizing assistance to Soviet families during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). In wartime conditions, accompanied by economic instability for the state, families with children, including military families, were in a difficult situation. Taking care of the Soviet family and the younger generation became the basis of the course of social policy, but the state could not always provide targeted assistance in time. That is why an important element of the organization of conditions for a stable situation of the population has become the involvement of collective farms, industrial and commercial enterprises, as well as individuals to assist families with children. The scientific novelty of the article consists in attracting a wide range of sources from the archives of the Republic of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region. Analysis of the documents showed that during the Great Patriotic War, the population helped those in need in various forms. In difficult times, the people acted unanimously and created various aid organizations: red Cross societies, charitable foundations, maternity and childhood committees. The population also helped those in need by accepting orphans, evacuated citizens and refugees for temporary residence. The enterprises did not stand aside. For the Baikal region, these measures were as important as for the rest of the USSR.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the study of one of the urgent problems of childhood - neglect and homelessness. The object of the study is the social policy of the USSR in 1930-1950, within the framework of which the Soviet authorities had to solve this problem and ensure the preservation of the younger generation. The subject of the study is the process of implementing social politics in the Baikal region. In particular, the author touches upon the issues of regulatory and legal support for the fight against homelessness and childhood neglect, highlights the features and difficulties of fighting in wartime. The statistical data on the region in comparison with the all-Union indicators are given, as well as an assessment of the effectiveness of the activities carried out. The article emphasizes the importance of measures of the social policy of the USSR in relation to the problems of neglect and homelessness, however, the lack of consistency in the implementation of these measures, as well as the existence of problems related to the financing of children's institutions, is noted. The novelty of the research lies in bringing as a source base a wide range of unpublished materials, including archival documents, sources of personal origin, periodicals and statistics. The author comes to the conclusion that social policy in relation to childhood was not implemented effectively enough, despite the fact that it was based on ideological principles that united the population in the fight against common problems.