Court orders Georgian gov’t to pay 35,000 GEL to minors for illegally placing them in foster care

The Tbilisi City Court ordered the Georgian government to pay 35,000 GEL in compensation to three minors  for moral damage as they were separated from their families two years ago, announced the Partnership for Human Rights (PHR), an organisation that works to protect the rights of various social groups.

The children were taken because the parents were unable to financially provide for them. 

PHR says that two years ago, without financial or other forms of assistance, the State Care Agency illegally placed three minors in foster care, causing the children stress due to the separation from their parents for two years.

This is the first case of minors appealing to Tbilisi City Court and demanded they be returned to their families.

This is a truly unprecedented case, as I have never seen such a hearing of children in court. The last word during the court session was given to one of the minors, who told the representative of the State Care Agency that he was afraid to protest being in foster care”, the lawyer of PHR, Ana Arganashvili told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Arganashvili said this case once again shows that poverty is not the fault of parents, but the state itself must strengthen poor families.