During July, 5-7 2017 Change Agency “Perspectives” organized a study tour to Tbilisi (Georgia) for the participants of the project "Creating a new model of family-and-community oriented services for children with special needs". The tour aimed to introduce participants to the Georgian experience in transformation of healthcare and social services provided to children with special needs.
The participants of the study tour were the Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children's Rights, representatives of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, Vice Governors of the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhya regions, Heads of Healthcare and Social Protection departments of the Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Lugansk Regional State Administrations.
During the visit, the participants met with Zaza Sopromadze, Deputy Minister of Health, Labour and Social Affairs of Georgia, who stated that Georgia has done a lot for the deinstitutionalization of residential institutions for children: 60% of children in residential institutions returned to their families, others were placed in foster care and family-type settings. Marie Tsereteli, department head for the Social Service Agency, guardianship, care and social programs, provided the Ukrainian delegation with detailed information on children social protection system’s reform in Georgia. She emphasized that in Georgia there were 45 residential institutions with 5200 children before the reforms, and now there are only two such places for 88 children with disabilities.
Ukrainians visited a non-governmental organization "First Step" and acquainted with its organizational model of social services provision. All the participants were impressed with the variety of programs offered by the organization. Day Care Center for Children with Disabilities, Early Intervention Program, Sensory integration, Game therapy, School preparation program, ABA-therapy, Feeding therapy, Home services, Healthcare services to name but a few.
The next stop point of the tour was the Children's Hospice "The Country of Fireflies", which started its operation in February this year. The Hospice was built and equipped at the expense of charitable funds, which had been accumulating over two years. Children's Hospice offers three types of services: round-the-clock care for children from birth to 18 years old, day care and home services.
Ukrainian delegation also visited a foster family. The foster father told the participants about the system of state support for such families in Georgia, demonstrated occupational therapy facilities his family has (carpenter and weaving workshops, children's creativity house that welcomes not only foster children, but also children from the entire village).
At the end of the first day there was visit to the Center for Neurodevelopment, which continues to implement modern approaches to the rehabilitation of patients with mental, neurological, emotional and behavioural disorders since 1997. The delegation had an opportunity to get acquainted with the Center's organisational model and its facilities. The director of the center noted, “Rehabilitation and abilitation are carried out according to individual plans developed by teams of specialists and aimed at the maximum adaptation, development of an independent, successful and active member of our society. Emphases are placed not on reflexes, as it can be seen in the medical model, but on functions, that is the child's ability to perform certain actions”.
Also the participants visited the family-type children's home, which provides family-like care for 10 children. This residential care setting is managed by the non-profit organization Divine Child Foundation, which was created during the active phase of deinstitutionalisation in Georgia. There are three others care settings under Divine Child Foundation management. The living conditions are family-like: the bedrooms are for two children, there is a so-called "open fridge", which children can use when needed, the children make a menu and participate in cooking, also they do the cleaning, although they do it reluctantly, like others children.
"Ukraine is not Georgia. Since the time of Minister Kvitashvili I have heard this from those who wanted to devalue the achievements of health care reforms in Georgia and to justify the fact that nothing happened in Ukraine. Also some are referring to the fact that we are bigger than Georgia, so it will be harder to implement changes. But Ukraine is not China, and not the USA - big and rich. The comparison with Africa offends us. But who we are, and why it is so hard for us to change anything? I see the reason of it in our culture, mentality, the lack of civil society, and the unprofessionalism of those who make decisions ... In Georgia, most organizations that provide palliative services, early intervention and receive money from the state in the form of vouchers are non-governmental. There is a healthy competition, and as a result high professional level", reflected Andriy Penkov, the national expert in pediatric palliative care.
The study tour was conducted under the Project “Creating a new model of family-and-community oriented services for children with special needs” supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
