The Human Rights Protection and Civil Integration Committee discussed amendments to Georgia’s Law on Adoption and Foster Care in the first reading.
The proposed changes introduce updated rules for assessing the socio-economic status of adoptive and foster parents.
Deputy Health Minister Irine Tsakadze said families or individuals wishing to adopt a child will be required to submit documents to the Care Agency under procedures approved by the Health Minister, instead of presenting an extract from the Unified Database of Socially Vulnerable Families.
Under the draft law, authorities will assess the stability of an adoptive parent’s socio-economic situation at both the registration stage and the stage when consent is given for a proposed adoption.
The required documentation will include information on income, property status, and overall socio-economic conditions, including official documents issued by public and private institutions.
The draft law also includes transitional regulations for families already registered in the adoption database.
Tsakadze stated that around 1,500 families and individuals currently registered in the database will not be required to resubmit first-stage documentation, as they have already provided extracts from the social vulnerability database.
She added that these families will no longer have to undergo annual re-verification or repeatedly submit financial documents to guardianship and care authorities. However, they will still be required to submit the documentation approved by the Minister’s order during the final stage of the adoption process.
The amendments also state that adoptive parents who have not completed the mandatory adoption preparation course will have to finish the training and submit a certificate before the adoption decision is sent to the relevant district or city court.
