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This project is funded by the European Union
REACHING VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN GEORGIA Children Living or Working on the Streets ვიზრუნოთ ყველაზე დაუცველ ბავშვებზე ქუჩაში მცხოვრები და მომუშავე ბავშვები GEORGIA
What:
Who:
The European Union funded project
• UNICEF; • Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs; • Social Service Agency; • Ministry of Education and Science; • Ministry of Internal Affairs; • Ministry of Justice; • the Tbilisi and Kutaisi Municipalities; • the NGOs: Caritas Georgia, World Vision, and
Reaching Highly Vulnerable Children in Georgia - Children Living and Working on the Streets
Where: Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kutaisi
When: August 2012 – May 2015
Child and Environment.
Why: Living on the street severely impacts children. Children on the streets have no access to education or appropriate health services. Often they are unregistered and subject to various kinds of violence. Instability and inappropriate living conditions make these children among the most vulnerable groups of society.
Main outcome: A state mechanism has been established to protect the rights of the children living and working on the streets and to ensure their reintegration into society. Until now there has been no state strategy to support these children. Within this initiative, such children have been identified and involved in specific programmes. The final goal is to place the children working and living on the streets – after a rehabilitation period – into existing state services, such as foster care and small group homes, or, as possible, to reintegrate them into their biological families.
The following services have been developed to support the children living and working on the streets:
Mobile teams Mobile teams consist of a social worker, psychologist, peer educator and administrative worker/driver. The objective of the mobile team is to identify the children on the streets, gain their trust and establish relationships with the aim of placing them in a respective service, assess them and their families as possible, provide medical or psychological assistance, and involve them in leisure and sports activities and informal education.
3 mobile teams have been functioning in Tbilisi since summer 2013 and one mobile team was launched in Kutaisi in spring 2015.
Transitional centres Transitional centres are 24-hour care services providing assistance for a maximum period of one-year to children with experience of street life. Their main objective is to provide shelter and assistance to children in crisis – such as those unattended on streets, left without homes, who are victims of violence, etc. – and prepare them for longer-term placements in foster care or small group homes. In certain cases, when a biological family can provide a safe environment for the child, the reintegration process is highly supported.
To date one transition centre functions in Tbilisi and one in Rustavi, which was opened in May 2014.
Day-care/crisis intervention centres Day-care/crisis intervention centres are open services that provide children living and/or working on the streets with the opportunity to meet basic needs (food, hygiene, etc.) and offer psychological rehabilitation, life skills development and informal education programmes. The centres also offer overnight shelter to those children who are left without any housing.
3 day-care/crisis intervention centres function in Tbilisi and one was opened in Kutaisi in spring 2015.
Training of Professionals Training on the specifics of working with children has been provided to the following professionals of the services established within the project framework and staff of the state bodies involved in the system:
15 members of the mobile teams 150 employees of the day-care/ crisis intervention and transition centres 230 policemen in Tbilisi and Kutaisi
State funding The Social Rehabilitation and Child Care State Programme (run by the Social Service Agency) funds the work of the mobile teams, day-care/crisis intervention centres and transition centres.
Total Number of children that have been served: Number of children in Tbilisi – 380 Number of children enrolled in Day-care, Crisis intervention and Transit Centres – 144 Number of children integrated into Emergency Foster Care – 7 Number of children integrated into Small Group Home – 5 Number of children integrated into schooling – 20 Documentation problems have been resolved for 38 children and families Number of families served by the state emergency support program for families with children in crisis - 15 Number of children referred to other programs – 13 Number of children and families supported by the Health and Social Fund - 59
The Health and Social Fund has been established as an effective tool to cover individual healthcare and social needs of children living and working on the streets and solve specific problems in the short-term (2014) period. The Fund also serves as a one-time support for the re-unification of children living on the streets with their biological families. By February 2015, the fund had served 59 children and their families. A legal working group was formed in spring 2014 to identify legislative gaps that limit the rights of the children living and working on the streets and restrict their access to different services, such as education, health and social services. The working group (with active participation of the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs/Social Service Agency and Ministry of Justice/Services Development Agency) has developed recommendations to support granting
these children temporary IDs to allow them access to health, education and other social services. The recommendations will be presented to the Parliament before the end of 2015. The initiative is cooperating closely with the Ministry of Education and Science in developing the “Second Chance Education Programme� for children who never attended or dropped out of school. Since spring 2015, an education programme has been active in the daycare centres that allows children living and working on the streets to get involved in the learning process. Within the frame of the initiative, a small-scale awareness campaign has been conducted to educate the public about the services available for children living and working on the streets and to change the stereotypes existing among the public.
Individual stories (names changes) Giorgi Giorgi is 17. He had been working on the streets and earning a living through selling candles and begging since childhood. In addition to dire economic and social conditions at home, he was often the victim of physical and psychological violence from his mother. With support of the staff of the day-care centre, Giorgi has graduated from the 9th grade and enrolled in a college of vocational education for cooks. The day-care staff provided all learning items for him. Soon Giorgi will receive a certificate and be able to find a job.
Nika and Zurab When the service providers first met them, Nika and Zurab lived in severe poverty with their parents in one rented room. The parents were alcoholics and the children earned a living through collecting and selling scrap metals. Although the children were enrolled in school, they often missed classes and never did any homework. With active efforts by social workers and a mobile group, the children started visiting the day-care centre. At the same time, the social workers worked with their parents to get their consent on providing the children long-term alternative care. Since June 2014, the boys have been in foster care in one of the towns. They have adapted well to the environment. They go to school and learn well. Their foster parent is interested in their development, keeps a close eye on their needs and responds to them promptly. The children often travel out of town together with their foster parent’s family. They also remain close with their biological parents who visit often. As a result, the children are no longer on the streets and live in a better environment.
Individual stories (names changes) Mariam Mariam is 13 and has never been to school because she does not have personal documentation. Due to difficult social conditions, her family does not have a permanent residence. Since May 2014 when Mariam was placed in the transitional centre, her learning skills have greatly improved. With the support of the centre caregivers, she has been learning to read and write and can already read small texts fluently. Mariam can also count and memorizes small texts as a result of her improved memory.
Aleko 15-year-old Aleko grew up in various children’s institutions and had graduated from the 9th grade. He has been in the transitional centre since 2014. In the past, he was impulsive and had difficulty controlling his behavior, which caused problems. Because of the effort by the centre’s staff, the situation has relatively improved. Now he is trying to better control his behavior, emotions and take into account others’ views. Aleko has successfully graduated from a college as an IT technician. This has completely changed his attitude toward himself and the people around him. Aleko has become more self-confident and has better self-esteem. Currently he goes in for boxing and has even managed to attract his friends to this sport as well.