Needs Assessment of Reintegrated Families in Georgia. Strengthening Child Care Services and Systems

Georgia’s child welfare reform has made incredible strides over the past eight years focusing largely on ending harmful child institutionalization. The child welfare reform process that started in 2005 is being successfully implemented by the Government of Georgia (GoG) with support from the international community and local NGOs. Today, the progress is evident: the number of children residing in large scale Child Care Institutions (CCI) fell from 4000 in 2005 to 147 in 2013; there are only five CCIs remaining in the country, down from 25 in 2011, and 45 in 2005; more than 1000 children have been reintegrated with their biological families, more than 1000 – placed in foster care and over 300 in family type Small Group Homes.  In addition, a new gatekeeping policy is being rolled out across the country to ensure that children are only entering the care system when there are no other options.

Ninety-three families participated in the needs assessment in which 155 children (44 % female, 56 % male) – were reintegrated. The children’s birth years varied from 1991 to 2005 and their age from 7 to 21 (at the moment of assessment), respectively, with an average age of 14.