Orphanage for Children with Special Needs, Kaspi, Republic of Georgia © Everychild / Onnik Krikorian

Orphanage for Children with Special Needs, Kaspi, Republic of Georgia © Everychild / Onnik Krikorian

One of the most interesting visits during my 5 day stay in Georgia for the British charity Everychild was to the Kaspi Orphanage for Children with Special Needs. Some of the building had been refurbished by the Japanese but the rooms for the children hadn’t. However, as sad as the pictures might be, the story has a happy ending.

While the institution can accomodate over 100 children, there were just over 50 present. The remainder had been placed with foster families or sent to The First Step rehabilitation cottages in Tbilisi. Everychild, in particular, have been prolific in the process of de-institutionalization in Georgia and when you see the photos of children with their foster parents and in The First Step cottages, you’ll understand why this story is somewhat positive.

Family support and foster care for children with special needs

This project is being implemented in partnership with UNICEF, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection and the Ministry of Education. The International Women’s Association also provided funding. This project, like the family support and foster care project, demonstrates that parents and carers can feasibly care for disabled children at home, given the right level of support. The project seeks to reintegrate those children living in institutional care with their birth families or, where this is not possible, provide high quality foster care.

EveryChild is also developing a partnership with a local non-governmental organisation, The First Step (TFS), to set up respite care to provide professional services for children with disabilities, which will enable their parents and carers to take regular breaks. EveryChild and TFS are working together to find and support family-based carers for those children with disabilities currently living in institutions.

In fact, I was very impressed with what I saw and it’s interesting that the process of de-institutionalization and transforming boarding schools into other service providing centers seems to be far ahead of what’s going on in Armenia. For example, while the Kharberd Specialized Children’s Home is in a better condition that Kaspi because of financial support from the Diaspora and the wives of former President Levon Ter Petrosian and that of the current Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, the kids are destined to remain in institutions rather than placed with loving families.

So significant is this problem in Armenia that Kharberd is over capacity because the Director can not bring himself to send the children to the Vardenis Psychiatric Institution when they reach the age of 18. He actually wants to find foster families for the kids, but while social services are quite developed in Armenia, fostering has still not taken off here although Everychild are now providing technical support to UNICEF and the Armenian Government in this area.

Everychild have trained social workers working with these kids, supported the Georgian Ministry of Education with fostering and de-institutionalization, and also provided training at The First Step Cottages. When you see the photos of these aspects of Everychild’s work, you’ll understand just how successful this has been. In particular, there was one beautiful little Georgian girl who captivated me and I have just discovered a story about her being moved from Kaspi to The First Step cottages.

Eka, short for Ekatarine, has been through more trauma in her eleven years than most people would have to endure in ten lifetimes. Looking at her rosy cheeks and shy smile, you would not imagine a childhood filled with conflict, violence and an absence of good memories. Her wheelchair distinguishes her from the other children in the ‘First Step’ cottage, but also the fact that her eyes reflect a resilience and acceptance way beyond her age.

At the age of five, Eka was cast off to the notorious Kaspi orphanage, 65 km from the capital Tbilisi, after she witnessed her father kill her mother in the family’s small home. Her father was sent to prison with a 15-year jail term and Eka’s relatives considered it best that she be raised in a children’s institution.

The full article can be found online here. For more information on Everychild’s work in Georgia and elsewhere please access their web site at http://www.everychild.org.uk. Incidently, the girl in the last photograph above is an ethnic Armenian. Met quite a few in Kaspi and The First Step.