As orphanages across Georgia close their doors, an increasing number of children require foster care. Muskie [9] alumni Andro Dadiani and Maya Mateshvili are working to address the concerns of these underprivileged children by establishing a link among foster parents, the state, and the foster children they serve.
The Georgian government’s decision to close all remaining large-scale orphanages in the country over the next two years will lead to the integration of the children back with their families, into foster families, or placement in small group homes. But as the number of children in foster care continues to grow, the number of foster parents is declining. Many cannot cope with the increasing needs of children in their care and with limited support from the state.
Mateshvili and Dadiani organized the first Georgian Foster Care Organization (GFCO) to help bring foster parents together to advocate for more state support. “The main goal of establishing the GFCO was to protect the interests and rights of the foster parents and the children in their care, as foster care is a relatively new concept for Georgia and lacks adequate support from the state,” says Mateshivili.
The GFCO has nearly 100 members and unites foster parents from all over Georgia to help ensure that vulnerable children, who lack parental care, have the opportunity to grow up in a safe, caring family environment. The GFCO is also a member of the International Foster Care Organization (IFCO) and is working to build more international partnerships.
Both Mateshvili and Dadiani work at EveryChild [10], a UK-based international non-governmental organization. Dadiani, head of the Georgian branch, and Mateshvili, the project manager for the EU-funded Advocacy for Participation to Protect Children’s Rights project, work to provide more children living in orphanages the opportunity to live with a family. They also advocate for improvement of government services for foster parents.
Their years of hard work advocating for foster care is beginning to reap rewards. In recent months, EveryChild obtained and updated contact information of all non-kinship foster parents countrywide. In addition, Mateshvili and Dadiani organized informational meetings to convey the goals of GFCO to prospective members. The meetings empower foster parents to demand that government agencies regularly analyze concerns and challenges in foster care, design programs and policies based on the analysis, and make this process an essential part of the child welfare system.
Over the last year, the GFCO and EveryChild helped increase financial support for foster parents by 120 percent. Next, the group is working on a needs assessment of the state-funded child care services and a pilot training program for foster parents. Depending on the challenges identified through the needs assessment, GFCO and EveryChild will advocate for improvements to the child care system.
“GFCO will become the main driving force in efforts to advocate improvements in the levels, variety and quality of support to children in foster care and their foster parents. Foster care is the best care alternative when living with biological or extended family is not an option,” says Dadiani.
Dadiani studied Public Service and Administration from 2001 to 2003 at Texas A&M University. Mateshvili studied Journalism and Mass Communication during her Muskie Fellowship at UNC-Chapel Hill from 2006 to 2008. Muskie is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs [11] of the US Department of State and is implemented by IREX.