Reintegration Allowance — Support for Returning to the Family Environment
The reintegration allowance is monetary social assistance paid to the biological family or to the guardian-carer of a person with special care needs, where that family or carer takes the person from a specialized institution to live in a family environment and provides appropriate care. The purpose of the allowance is that the state, through financial support, reflects the costs and effort associated with living with a new family member. The right to request it belongs to the family. The amount of the reintegration allowance is determined by the Government of Georgia, while the rule and conditions for its appointment, suspension, renewal and termination, as well as other relations connected with its payment, are regulated by the minister's order — the law does not set these details directly, and you should verify them precisely against that order.
Foster-Care Remuneration
Foster-care remuneration is monetary social assistance paid to a foster parent for the upkeep and upbringing of a foster child. It concerns a foster mother or father who, on the basis of a contract concluded with the state, provides living arrangements and care for a person with special care needs who is not a member of that family. The foster child is precisely the person transferred to the foster parent on the basis of that contract. This form of state care is close to family care and aims at the child's upbringing in a family environment — the remuneration is tied to the foster parent's performance of that function.
Family-Care Remuneration for an Adult
Family-care remuneration for an adult is monetary social assistance paid to a person who takes an adult from a specialized institution to live in a family environment and provides appropriate care. This instrument extends the policy of early deinstitutionalization — returning people from institutions to families — to adults as well. The amount of this remuneration and the periodicity of its payment are determined by the Government of Georgia, while the rule and conditions for its appointment, suspension, renewal and termination, as well as other relations connected with its payment, are regulated by the minister's order.
In-Kind Social Assistance and the Social Package
A person with special care needs may be a recipient of in-kind social assistance. For the purposes of prevention and reintegration, in-kind assistance may also be provided to a child or to the child's family, where the situation in the family is a substantiated precondition for recognizing the child as deprived of care, or to secure the deprived-of-care child's living in the family environment. The types of in-kind social services, as well as the criteria for assessing the situation in the family — through which the indicator of the risk of the child being recognized as deprived of care is determined — are defined by the minister's order.
The social package, in turn, is a monthly monetary benefit or a set of benefits — monetary and in kind. Its volume, the circle of recipients, and the rule and conditions of payment are determined by a decree of the Government of Georgia. The grounds for appointing the social package are named precisely by law: they are the establishment of disability status and the death of a breadwinner. No other circumstance can serve as a ground for appointment — the circle of recipients and the volume are detailed precisely by the government's decree.
The Specialized Institution and the Requirements Attached to It
A specialized institution is a natural or legal person that provides social services to persons with special care needs around the clock or during a defined period of the day. Excluded are general-education institutions with boarding services, which do not fall under this definition. The law also sets a special requirement for specialized institutions: neither the institution nor its employee may be a person convicted of committing a crime against sexual freedom and inviolability — regardless of the expungement or annulment of the conviction. This prohibition is absolute and serves the safety of the persons in care.
Placement Procedure and Financing Sources
The decision on placing a person in a specialized institution with full state support or with co-financing, as well as on placing a minor in a day-care specialized institution, is taken by the competent body. This means that placement does not occur by direct request or by agreement with the institution — the authority to decide is assigned by law to the competent body, and it is its decision that determines the financial side of the service in each form — full state support or co-financing.
The sources of financing of a specialized institution may be the state budget of Georgia, the budgets of the Autonomous Republics of Abkhazia and Ajara, the budgets of municipalities, or other sources provided for by Georgian legislation. This multi-pillar financing structure means that the organization of the service may depend on the resources of budgets at various levels, and the financing source of a particular institution is determined in each case in the manner established by legislation.
How to Plan Your Application
When applying in this field, keep in mind three simple but decisive rules. First: the amount of every monetary allowance — reintegration and family care — or the amount and periodicity thereof is determined by the Government of Georgia, so refer to official sources for the figures currently in force. Second: the rules for appointment, suspension, renewal and termination are established by the minister's order — not knowing them grants you no rights, so familiarize yourself with them before applying. Third: the placement decision is taken by the competent body, and the ways to contest its decision rest on the general rules determined by Georgian legislation. Following all three rules will support your application and reduce the risk of a pointless refusal.