USAID Rule of Law Program gathered the Child Rights Practice Group judge members and alumni judges of USAID’s judicial exchange program together with representatives of the Agency for State Care and Assistance for the Victims of Human Trafficking. Held in Kutaisi on December 3, 2022, judges and Agency representatives discussed court practices on deciding on the separation of a child from its parents, and the periodic review of the decision on how to protect the best interest of a child.

There are two different appellate interpretations of certain provisions of the recently established Code on the Rights of the Child. Judges at the Kutaisi Court of Appeals have held that the Code’s rules on extending child-parent separation time do not apply to child-parent separation cases decided before the Code was enacted, whereas judges at the Tbilisi Court of Appeals have held that the Code’s rules do apply in such cases.

Speakers at the meeting included USAID judicial exchange program alumni from Ozurgeti Regional Court Tornike Kapanadze, Kutaisi Court of Appeals Judge Nana Kalandadze, Batumi City Court Judge Irma Togonidze, and the Agency representatives Tamta Babunashvili and Elene Martashvili. The discussion panels were moderated by Kutaisi Court of Appeals Judge Irma Peranidze. 

During discussions between the judges and representatives of the State Care Agency, both sides agreed that there should be detailed procedural regulations in the law on the judicial review of motions for separation of the child from parents based on the Code, including regulations that define rules for oral hearings and the time of separation.