On October 20, a video was posted on Facebook by Khatia Janashia, a user known for spreading disinformation, in which she discusses reports that social workers are entering primary school classrooms. According to her, social workers ask primary school children questions such as, “How do your parents treat you? Do they restrict you in any way? Do they punish you?” etc. Janashia claims that this is part of an effort to implement a juvenile law in Georgia. She explains the law as follows: “Parents will lose their absolute rights over their children, and if a child naively tells the social worker during the interview, for example, that their parents punish or restrict them, this will be grounds for taking the child away from the parents.”
Khatia Janashia: “Information is spreading, which we are now verifying, that social workers plan to enter schools, particularly targeting 4th-grade classrooms, in order to question children. The questions will be like, How do your parents treat you? Do they restrict you in any way? Do they punish you? etc. Children should not answer these questions […]. The child should say this instead: I will not speak to you without my parents present.”
On October 22, Khatia Janashia released a new video, claiming that the information she had shared was confirmed. In the video’s description, she attached a link to a Facebook post by the Educational Institution Resource Officer Service. The post announced that on October 23 the service would hold a webinar titled, “The Role of the School Social Worker in Supporting Pupils’ Psychosocial Well-being.” In the video, Janashia repeats her earlier claims about juvenile justice, saying that it serves to “control families” and encourages children to view parental discipline, such as monitoring their location, friends, curfew, or screen time, as punishment
The information presented in Janashia’s videos about the juvenile law, social workers entering schools to question children, and children being taken away from their parents is false. There is no evidence in open sources of any new project involving social workers interviewing primary school pupils. The Ministry of Education also denied the existence of such an initiative when contacted by Myth Detector.
As for juvenile justice, it focuses on the rehabilitation and reintegration of juvenile offenders, not on punitive measures.
Myth Detector attempted to verify whether there was any information in open sources about social workers entering primary school classrooms to question pupils about family situations. It should be noted that social workers and psychologists are indeed involved in the school system. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Education implemented a Personal and Emotional Safety Program, under which “parents of children aged 6-13 and beneficiaries aged over 13 received online consultations from qualified psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists.” Social workers first appeared in Georgia’s education system in 2021. At the time, the Ministry of Education explained that their role was to promote a healthy, positive educational environment in schools and to help pupils overcome various social barriers by supporting greater parental involvement in school life. In 2022, then-Minister of Education Mikheil Chkhenkeli stated that, to strengthen psychosocial and emotional support, the number of social workers, psychologists, and school resource officers would be increased. According to the Minister, these professionals assist pupils, parents, and teachers with necessary social support and help eliminate factors that hinder pupils’ participation in the educational process.
The work of social workers in general education institutions is regulated by the Law of Georgia on Social Work. According to Article 18 (Social work in general educational institutions), social work in general educational institutions includes:
- Raising the awareness of pupils, carrying out preventive work to reduce cases of bullying and ensuring their management, including work with parents, families, school administration and teachers of pupils;
- Identifying social problems in general educational institutions, and pupils in conflict with the law, pupils having behavioural and emotional problems, as well as pupils with inclusive and special educational needs and providing them with social services, including managing the difficult behaviour of pupils and providing consultations to their families;
- Ensuring the involvement of pupils in the general education process and in the formal and informal educational processes and facilitating their civil integration;
- Identifying and ensuring an appropriate response to facts of violence or neglect.
Since no open-source evidence was found confirming the claims made in Khatia Janashia’s video, Myth Detector contacted the Ministry of Education’s public relations department. A ministry representative confirmed that, besides teachers, psychologists and resource officers work in schools, but there is no initiative to send social workers to schools to question primary school pupils about parental discipline or violence, nor to remove children from their parents based on such responses.
As for Janashia’s second video, she again discusses juvenile justice, claiming that the Resource Officer Service confirmed the plan to send social workers to schools to question children. As “proof,” she cites a Facebook post from the service announcing a webinar on October 23. The post of the Resource Officer Service states that, at the initiative of the Psychological Services Center, a webinar will be held for parents, school administrations, teachers, and professionals working with children/pupils on the topic, “The Role of the School Social Worker in Supporting Pupils’ Psychosocial Well-being.” The webinar focuses on the importance of social workers’ involvement in the educational process, the main directions of their work, and strategies for supporting pupils’ psychosocial welfare. It should be noted that the webinar is one-day only and is intended not for pupils, but for parents and other individuals involved in the educational process.
- What Is Juvenile Justice, and Does It Involve Taking Children Away from Their Parents?
Juvenile justice is a part of criminal law that deals with individuals who are not of age to bear full criminal responsibility for their actions. While the system functions differently from country to country, all jurisdictions define what constitutes a crime committed by a minor, who is responsible for them, and how such an offender should be punished. In most countries, juvenile justice focuses on rehabilitation and care, rather than punishment or imprisonment.
In Georgian legislation, the equivalent term for juvenile justice is justice for minors. It does not provide for the removal of children from their parents, and the code does not regulate conditions for separating a child from their family. The purpose of the legislation is defined as follows:
“This Code determines the characteristics of the administrative and criminal liability of minors, administrative offence proceedings and criminal procedure involving minors, and special procedures for the enforcement of sentences and other measures.”
The Code mentions the involvement of social workers several times, specifically in the rehabilitation and reintegration of juvenile offenders. However, it nowhere states that the law allows for children to be taken away from their parents. Article 46 (Placement of a minor in foster care) outlines the conditions under which a minor may be placed in foster care. The article specifies that if there is a risk that the minor may commit another offense while remaining in his/her family environment, the child should be temporarily placed under another person’s care and separated from the family.
The law does not contain any provision allowing social workers to remove children from their parents, and such action is not part of the juvenile justice system.
False information about juvenile justice has circulated in the past as well, often linking it to claims that children would be taken from their parents. Myth Detector has previously published several materials clarifying what juvenile justice actually entails, including:
- Does the Code on the Rights of the Child contain a list of at-risk families from whom children might be taken?
- What does the Code on the Rights of the Child actually provide, and what is juvenile justice?
- What is juvenile justice, and under what circumstances can a social worker remove a child from a family?
Therefore, several claims made in Khatia Janashia’s video are false. It is not true that the Ministry of Education plans to send social workers to schools to collect information about family conditions. Juvenile justice has been in effect in Georgia for many years, and it does not involve taking children away from their parents.
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