On April 3, 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia addressed the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs to provide adequate care for children with disabilities who are involved in the foster care program by bearing in mind their best interests.

During the ad hoc monitoring, the Public Defender's Office checked the rights situation of children in the foster family of I.S., as well as beneficiary L.B. at the Tbilisi infants’ house, the branch of the State Fund for Assistance and Protection of Victims of Trafficking, and the compliance of the services provided for them with national standards set by the law, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other international documents.

The examination revealed that services are not delivered according to the individual needs of children with disabilities. The foster parents do not have skills necessary for physical, psycho-motor, emotional, social and cognitive development of persons with Down syndrome; they do not have knowledge necessary for working with such children. The foster children are not under proper health care. LEPL Social Service Agency does not provide reasonable placement of foster children in foster families. The situation of the mentioned children is not adequately supervised, which threatens their lives, health, development and safety.

Given the problems identified above, the Public Defender called on the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs to study the reasonability of placement of 5 children with disabilities in I.S.'s foster family, make a decision with regard to the provision of adequate state care service in the children's best interests, carry out systematic supervision and proper monitoring of foster care services, take necessary measures for improving the health condition L.B., a beneficiary of the Tbilisi infants’ house, and control their implementation.