RIGHTS OF CHILDREN IN SMALL FAMILY-TYPE CHILDREN’S HOMES THE RIGHT OF THE BENEFICIARIES TO HEALTHCARE QQ According to Article 9(1) of the Childcare Standards,128 beneficiaries should be raised in an environment where a healthy was of life is encouraged and due attention is paid to their health. Provision of medical service to children at children’s educational institutions is governed by Article 135 of the Law on Healthcare, which stipulates that the State shall ensure provision of medical services to orphan children, children in need of parental care and children with physical and mental defects. Monitoring of the small family-type children’s homes revealed both systemic problems with child healthcare and individual cases of lack of access to medical services. MEDICAL DOCUMENTATION QQ When allocating a child (beneficiary) to a small family-type children’s home, submission of medical documentation is mandatory. One of such documents to be submitted is a health certificate (Medical Documentation, Form No. IV-100/A).129 Our monitoring groups detected a number of cases where beneficiaries had been admitted to children’s homes without the mentioned document.130 Some of the educators have explained the lack of the required medical document by the fact that the beneficiaries did not have their citizen’s ID card. Often times the medical documentation about beneficiaries available at the children’s homes are incomplete, contain scarce information and do not accurately reflect the actual health status of the beneficiaries. Whenever children are moved from one children’s home to another, their medical documentation is usually transferred with a delay, which makes provision of healthcare services to these children difficult.131 In some cases, information about children’s medical history and health status was not available at all. Unlike the monitoring results in 2012, we think a positive development in the reporting period was that the small family-type children’s homes did haveForms No. IV-100/A (a medical document which gets filled out when a beneficiary is admitted to an inpatient clinic for any reason). Although these forms did not always contain full information, it was still possible to discern consultation issued by the physicians. The role of social workers in the management of children’s healthcare issues remains a problem. In most cases, sections entitled “health status” in the Individual Development Plans drafted by social workers are filled out only formalistically.132 Different plans use identical language to describe the beneficiaries’ health conditions – a fact that most likely indicates that these descriptions are not an accurate representation of the real health status of the children. This leads to concluding that social workers and educators are not cooperating between each other. As in the previous year, information about immunization was unavailable again. Pursuant to the Childcare Standards, a service provider shall facilitate the process of the beneficiaries’ immunization and preventative medical check-up. We think that information about immunization must be part of the Individual Development Plans available at small family-type children’s homes. According to the Childcare Standards, a service provider shall ensure that beneficiaries have access to immunization and preventative medical check-ups.133 It should be noted that, compared to the previous years, this obligation 128 Resolution of the Government of Georgia No. 66 dated 15 January 2014, Technical Regulations approving Childcare Standards. 129 Article 6, Order of the Minister of Labor, Health and Social Protection No. 52/N dated 26 February 2010 approving “Terms and conditions of admission to and discharge from specialized institutions”. 130 The Way of Future, 6 beneficiaries; Khashuri, Shola Street No. 1, 2 beneficiaries; Caritas Georgia, Bezhanishvili Street No. 8, Caritas Georgia, Ati Mnati, 1 beneficiary. 131 Examples are Caritas Georgia, Bezhanishvili Street No. 8, two beneficiaries; “The Beam of Hope”, one beneficiary; Village Gldani, two beneficiaries. 132 For example, the “Biliki” Association, Children’s Home, Khashuri, Shola Street No. 1; Caritas Georgia, Children’s Home “Beam of Hope”. 2013 ACCESSIBILITY OF HEALTHCARE SERVICES QQ 133 Article 9(2)(a). NPM Report 63