In April, RELAF worked in Costa Rica together with UNICEF and PANI (the national public childhood body), following an agenda that revolved around the launch of the Call to Action for the deinstitutionalisation of children between the ages of 0 and 3 and the improvement of the alternative care measures along with their prevention for all children in that country.

With the aim of allowing a debate, training the different actors and analysing the local reality, meetings were held at the national UNICEF Office, at the University of Costa Rica, at the Center of Culture of PANI, the Supreme Court of Justice, and at the Association of Social Workers. Visits were made to Casa Viva, an NGO devoted to foster care that is part of the RELAF network, and to PANI’s large-scale institution, the Children’s Village Arthur Gough, the latter with the intention of knowing the environment in which children live at residential care institutions.

All of the activities mentioned above had the participation of a large number of local actors, as well as the commitment of Costa Rica’s highest childhood political and technical authorities. As a result of the debate in which those diverse actors engaged, we encountered both obstacles and opportunities for change. In this framework, the Call to Action was launched in the country, and the actors’ capabilities to apply and follow the UN Guidelines and the deinstitutionalisation strategies were enhanced, particularly regarding the deinstitutionalisation processes of children in their early years.

The evaluation of the activities carried out (such as the training for the staff of residential care institutions on the UN Guidelines) showed how important it is to continue to strengthen the cooperation between UNICEF, Costa Rica State, the civil society and the academics, in order to give continuity of improvement to the process of alternative care.