Deinstitutionalization

Resettlement process of children from 24-hour care and educational institutions into family and community-based environment.

Institution providing 24-hour care and protection

An institution that provides social protection to the population and administers around-the-clock care to children in difficult life situations.

Orphanage

An institution that provides social protection to the population and manages the care and education of children left without parental care until they turn 18, or until they are returned to their biological family, or until they are adopted, or given to guardian family, or until trusteeship is arranged, or until they are settled in a foster care family.

Specialized Orphanage

An institution that provides care and education for children with special needs.

Guardianship

A type of care designed for children left without parental care in order to provide them with care, nurture, and education, as well as to protect their rights and interests.

Adoption

The process through which an adopted child acquires family connections corresponding to biological connections. A result of which those adopting (adopter) and the child being adopted (adoptee) gain the rights and responsibilities of a parent and child.

Foster Care

The organization of the temporary care and education of a child in difficult life situations within another family environment that has been chosen by qualified authorities and has been registered, trained and certified until the situation due to which the child has ended up in foster care has been eradicated. 

Specialized Foster Care

This type of care is provided for children with disabilities or that have serious health problems, learning difficulties, mental or behavioral disorders, or that have undergone mental trauma, as well as mothers that are minors and their children.

Vacational Foster Care

Care and education are provided for children continuously or several times a week, including non-working days (holidays, memorials or vacation/days-off). Vacation care targets children with learning difficulties, health problems or with disabilities, as well as parents (or other legal representatives) that have trouble providing education and care or face other types of issues regarding the care and education of their children with special needs.

The Child’s Best Interest

Anything being done for children has to serve their best interests. Ensuring a child’s best interest is aimed at the effective and whole realization of the child’s rights and development, which are established in the RA Constitution and Laws, taking into consideration the child’s mental and physical needs, the attainability of care and education that would provide for those needs, the importance of returning to the family or living within the family, the importance of relationships with parents and other members of the family for the sake of the child’s development, the issue of national belonging, cultural, lingual, spiritual or religious connections or education and their meaning within a family environment, and other needs, demands and interests.