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Children without Care Stay Without Shelter after They Reach Full Age

July 22, 2013
 
Salome Achba

Dato lives in an orphanage in Tbilisi. Soon he will turn 18 and according to the national law, he will have to leave the institution but has nowhere to go. At the age of 18 an orphanage beneficiary shall definitely start independent life and leave the institution. However, their integration into society, accessibility to education and employment is problem. 

In fact, adults stay in the street after orphanages; there are no other shelter and employment programs for them. Several nongovernmental organizations work on their resocialization but the state budget still cannot assist adults outside orphanages. 

“Unfortunately, there is no instrument to assist the adult when he/she reaches age of 18. After that, they live beyond the shelter in the street. Part of them returns to relatives or biologic families. However, the problem is that very often those biologic families are not functional. Employment of the adults is still a problem. There is no employment program for them,” Andro Dadiani, country director of the organization Every Child said. 

Organizations working on children’s rights agree that soviet style large orphanages were problematic because nobody taught beneficiaries independent life in them. The deinstitutionalization process has already started in Georgia. Only 153 out of 5 200 children lived in the orphanages early in 2013. 

As a result of deinstitutionalization, part of children returned to their biological families, another part moved to small family-type houses, one part was involved in the Alternative Care Program – Guardianship that aims to “confide” child without care to a family for some time and to financially assist the family in exchange.

Public Defender also referred to the deinstitutionalization problem in his final report to the parliament. 

“Close up and deinstitutionalization process of large orphanages has been under permanent attention and supervision of the Public Defender of Georgia for the last few years. It is urgently important that purpose of deinstitutionalization, that is clearly positive initiative, shall be implemented in full compliance to children’s rights and not to leave any child in discriminative situation as a result of the reform,” the 2012 Report of the Public Defender of Georgia to the Parliament reads. Besides that, Public Defender recommends to the state to ensure thorough monitoring of alternative services of children’s care, whose results, together with the results of the surveys and monitoring implemented by nongovernmental organizations, defines direction and quality of the service development.

Experts agree that children acquire skills for independent life only in small, family-type facilities and during their lives in guardian families. However, despite the deinstitutionalization process, the problem is still unresolved: as soon as the adult turns 18, he/she has to leave guardian family or a small facility. The state is discharged of all responsibilities from that age.

International nongovernmental organization S.O.S. Children’s Village is the only organization which continues care of beneficiaries after the age of 18. Children without care live in family-type houses till the age of 14-15 and then they move to youth facilities. 

“The advantage is that in our organization beneficiaries receive care even after the age of 18. At the age of 14-15, based on the conclusions of a psychologist and a social worker, an adult moves to youth facility for at least 4-year-program. Youth facilities have leaders and teachers of different subjects; the organization continues to take care of the beneficiaries in that facility too. Even after four years, if the adult is not properly integrated, he/she still stays under the care of the S.O.S Children’s Village and the organization rents a flat for three more years and ensures semi-independent life for the beneficiary. Chief supervisor continues permanent relation with him/her… psychologists and social workers help them in full reintegration into society. Besides that, we work on their employment; they receive at least two vocational educations at S.O.S Children’s Village and then we try to help them in job-seeking process. Unfortunately, it is not easy process, but with the support of employment consultants we manage to assist them,” said Avtandil Chubinidze, Family Based Care Leader at Tbilisi S.O.S Children’s Village.

According to Chubinidze, currently the organization has more than 200 beneficiaries. Social workers of the Social Agencies decide where children without care will be placed – in state institution or in S.O.S Children’s Village. Those children, who are less lucky to become beneficiaries of S.O.S Children’s Village, and become beneficiaries of the state institutions, automatically lose shelter as soon as they reach full-age. 

Experts think the state shall have complex approach to the problem: “The state shall make the issue as its priority. Adults leaving the institution shall receive some material assistance, have state-funded shelter and receive care at least up to the age of 21, in order to help them to acquire skills of independent life,” said Andro Dadiani, country director at Every Child. 

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