Day Care helps prevent infant abandonment
GEORGIA - A recently-opened Day Care Centre supported by World Vision might have an ambitious goal but failing isn’t an option. Staff are determined to make the centre succeed in order to prevent at least 60 infants/toddlers from being abandoned to institutions in Georgia and to reduce the number of new admissions to Infant Houses by 40%.
The Day Care Centre also wants to see 100% of referrals about vulnerable children assessed and provided with consultancy and supported by the different services within the project, including Health and Nutrition Counselling, Gatekeeping and Employment services.
Sometimes I was thinking of taking Luka to the institution as I could not find a way to support him
For 26-year-old Natia, going to work in order to support herself and her six-week-old son Luka, was unfeasible a month ago. As a single mother who left the World Vision-supported Mother and Infant shelter and was living alone, Natia could not think of working, because she had no one to care for her little son Luka, who is too young for state-funded kindergarten.
“Sometimes I was thinking of taking Luka to the institution as I could not find a way to support him”, she confessed.
Living purely on a government allowance of just 46 GEL (US$28) was impossible, and relying on the support of friends was embarrassing so Natia had to make a difficult decision. Thankfully, World Vision’s Day Care centre for vulnerable infants/toddlers opened just in time, giving Natia the opportunity to work, while her son is cared for in a warm, family environment at the centre. At present the centre accommodates 12 vulnerable infants but has the capacity to accommodate 23-25 children, while World Vision’s employment service tries to find jobs for their mothers.
The centre is the only place which accommodates children from 0 to 3 years and operates until 9pm, aiming to support mothers struggling to generate an income in order to support their children.
...lack of day care services for socially vulnerable single mothers is a common reason for placement of infants in residential care
Despite the fact that several family support services have already been established and developed by World Vision in collaboration with the Government and other NGOs, the frequency of infant abandonment is still high among single mothers. Mothers sometimes intend to put their babies in residential care temporarily, until they resolve their problems. In most cases they fail to take their children out of the children’s institution and can not bring them back to the family.
World Vision’s experience has shown that lack of day care services for socially vulnerable single mothers is a common reason for placement of infants in residential care by women without extended family support.
The Day Care centre operates out of the space allocated by the Tbilisi local Government, which was renovated by World Vision and equipped with all the human and material resources needed to promote the growth and development of children.
“It’s the government’s obligation to provide services like this and our primary obligation is to keep pressure on the government that it’s a regulated industry. The opening ceremony showed that they are going to support the approach, but first they need to see the benefit of it”, said David Vivian, Operations Director for World Vision Georgia at the opening ceremony conducted by government representatives and World Vision staff in late May.