After the Gldani reception-distributor center stopped working, all data on homeless children was lost. Now a new inspection has started working registering homeless children. According to Giorgi Papava, the head of minor inspection, the preliminary works have already started.

A modern children’s social adaptation center has now been established in Gldani at the site of the original children’s reception-distribution center, where children were taken after police raids. Now the approach has changed, and children will be taken to this center only at their request. The center can accommodate 70 children, and at the moment there are 40. The youngest child is 7 years old.

Papava told us, “Our service inspected territories in Tbilisi where homeless children were located. We warned them and told that those who had homes should return there. It must be mentioned that most homeless children do not live in the streets because of poverty. This registration will allow us to identify categories.”

According to Papava, the children will be taken to the appropriate bodies after their narcological and psychological examinations.

To finance the children’s special adaptation center, the ministry of healthcare allocated 200,000 GEL. The goal of the center is to examine material and health conditions of homeless children who are at risk.

Giorgi Tavadze, head of the center stated, “We will not restrict the movement of children in our center. This is based on the advice of psychologists. The center is a body of the interior affairs ministry, but it has changed its function. If a child does not want to stay here, he will ruin whatever you do. Previously, when children were taken to reception-distribution centers, their rights were violated. Now social servants are working on these issues. We will regulate enrollment in schools in September. We want to find jobs for those who are already 17 years of age. Several companies have expressed the desire to give these children jobs.”

Most of the children now living at the center went there of their own accord. After the examination, it became clear that it was most difficult for children of drug abusers to stay at the center. Psychologists are now working with these children and their biological parents to return the children to their homes. According to the psychologists, most of children refuse to return home.

By law, the administration of the center is not allowed to find new parents for these children, because when this law was adopted there was no body of this type in Georgia.