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Abstract
This article describes a policy adoption case study about deinstitutionalization of childcare in Georgia since independence. It highlights the evolving and non-homogeneous nature of transnational agency in the area of childcare deinstitutionalization, and offers insights into the complex relationship between transnational agency and national policymaking. The analysis draws on national policy documents, reports of United Nations agencies, the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and non-governmental organizations that contributed to the…
Visionaries, a documentary series on public television in the United States, aired two episodes featuring the work of Disability Rights International (DRI) in uncovering the egregious abuses suffered by children and adults with disabilities living in institutions around the world. The first episode follows DRI investigators in Georgia as they follow up on a report they released in 2013 following a three-year investigation in that country. The second episode follows DRI investigators in Mexico who have recently published a report on institutions in Mexico City following a two-year…
Countries throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia struggle to change their childcare systems from one that is predominantly based on large-institution care to one that has a continuum of services and is family-focused. Georgia has shown, in large part, that the laudable goal of ending large-scale institutions for children is possible, including for children under the age of 6 years.
Between 2005 and 2013, the Government in the Republic of Georgia closed 32 large, state-run institutions housing children without adequate family care. Social work was strengthened…
Georgia’s child welfare reform has made important strides over the past eight years focusing largely on ending harmful child institutionalization. The child welfare reform process that started in 2005 is being implemented by the Government of Georgia with support from the international community and local NGOs. This video by Save the Children highlights some of the issues and the work of its project to support the Government in this reform process.
For the long version (12.54 mins) please click here…
This hard-hitting report by Disability Rights International (DRI) is the product of a 3-year investigation into the orphanages, adult social care homes and other institutions that house children and adults with disabilities in the Republic of Georgia. Over the past decade, the Government of Georgia has undertaken an ambitious child care reform process. As a result, the majority of its state-run institutions for children without disabilities have been closed and replaced with community services that enable vulnerable families to keep their children at home. DRI reports,…
A major ministerial conference on ending the placement of children under three in institutional care was held in Sofia, Bulgaria on 21 and 22 November 2012. Organized by the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria in collaboration with UNICEF, it brought together representatives of twenty governments from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, experts from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, international and local NGOs and the academic world to discuss strategies and emerging good practices to support vulnerable families…
Since 2005, the government of Georgia has made incredible progress in the area of child care reform. Guided by the National Child Action Plan (CAP) 2008-2011, the government of Georgia began the process of ending the use of large institutions in the country. A specific plan of action covering 2011-2012, was further developed and implemented. Gatekeeping policies were introduced nation-wide and a child care coordination council involving relevant line ministries, NGOs and key donors has been established to facilitate and monitor the process.
The key objectives of the child care reform were…
UNICEF; the Ministry of Education and Science; the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, EveryChild; Save the Children and the Children of Georgia commissioned an independent assessment of the deinstitutionalisation of children in Georgia in March and April 2010. The independent assessment examined, specifically, the deinstitutionalisation of children in special education boarding schools and child care institutions. Through interviews with key informants, children who had been reintegrated into communities, and children in foster care as well as visits to small group homes, child…
This report assesses progress in the reform of child welfare services in Georgia between 1999 and 2009. The year 1999 is generally recognised as being when the reforms began, because a Deinstitutionalisation Working Group was set up and pilot projects in deinstitutionalisation started. The reforms were formally taken up by the government with state funding in 2004. The report shows how the reform is related to wider social protection policies, identifies lessons learned from past practice and highlights where future efforts may be directed. It focuses mainly on government activities because…
EveryChild is an international development charity working in 17 countries with a strategic focus on children without parental care. This document outlines EveryChild’s approach to the growing problem of children without parental care by defining key concepts, analysing the nature and extent of the problem, exploring factors which place children at risk of losing parental care, and examining the impact of a loss of parental care on children’s rights. It also provides principles for good practice in trying to reduce the number of children without parental…