After EurasiaNet put together my photos with audio commentary for the 12 May parliamentary election , I’ve started to look at doing the same for new work. Actually, I’ve always put together my work in formats such as Macromedia Flash, but used text instead of audio to set the background. Anwyay, here’s a first attempt to change that. It’s on social work and de-institutionalization in Georgia for the Newport Kutaisi Association.

[…] poverty levels remain high with some families having no choice but to place their children into State-run Children’s Homes and Boarding Schools. Commonly referred to as orphanages, 85-90 percent of 5,400 children enrolled into such institutions actually have parents. Of concern are recent reports from the international Children’s Charity, EveryChild, which warn that institutional care can seriously hinder a child’s development.

As a result, the London-based organization, which also has an office in Tbilisi, is now working with the Georgian government, and in particular its Ministry of Education and Science, to reintegrate such children back into their biological families or to place them in foster care. According to EveryChild, over 500 children have already been removed from institutions, including one hundred who have been reunited with their biological families.

Other organizations are also working to assist children from institutions in finding employment when they become adults through vocational training programs. Centers for the rehabilitation of children with disabilities, another group at risk of being institutionalized, are also being opened in urban centers, including the second largest city of Kutaisi.

There’s also some more work on children in institutions in Georgia for EveryChild here, here, here, here, and here. Anyway, it follows on from looking at the same subject matter here in Armenia [some of which is available here and here], and can be viewed online here.