After a productive 2-year technical cooperation project between RELAF, UNICEF Panama, the Panamanian government and civil society, we are still carrying on with the deinstitutionalisation project in the country.

In this sense, on April 28 we made a presentation on the first day of trainings for the Monitoring and Support Committee for Deinstitutionalisation, led by SENNIAF Panama. The work schedule included two presentations: “Guidelines for the alternative care of children and adolescents”, presented by Andrea Lo Presti (Protection Advisor for UNICEF Panama), and “Foster Care. Guide of standards for the practices”, presented by Krysthel Lokan Rojas (RELAF).

Public prosecutors of the Public Ministry, Children’s judges of the Judiciary Organ, collaborators of NGOs and foundations, and officials from SENNIAF and its regional branches took part in the activity.

Moreover, on June 22 we met with the Commission for the Monitoring of Deinstitutionalisation in Panama with the aim of deepening our joint work. The meeting focused on the mechanisms necessary to turn pilot testing into a public policy for the egress of children from institutions. SENNIAF Panama representatives took part in the meeting along with members from civil society organisations: Hogar Malambo, Ciudad del Niño, Clamor del Corazón, and REDNANIAP (the National Network for the Support of Children and Adolescents in Panama).

Finally, we would gladly like to let you know that, during the day following this meeting and within the framework of the technical cooperation project, a camp was carried out with the participation of 30 out of the 75 children and adolescents that returned to family life. It was a very emotional occasion for all the children.

During the first three months of the year, the technical cooperation between RELAF and UNICEF Panama, along with the participation of local actors, continues the path started two years ago.

The fieldwork stage of the case study that will be made by a team of postgraduate students and experts of the Central European University was carried out during January, within the framework of the joint systematisation and analysis project of the deinstitutionalisation produced by RELAF in Panama alongside UNICEF Panama, the government and the Panamanian civil society.

The research team met with local authorities, such as Yasmín Cárdenas (Director of SENNIAF), Sara Rodríguez (Child Protection Officer for UNICEF Panama), Andrea Lo Presti (Child Protection Advisor for UNICEF Panama), Fortunato Peirotén (Director of Ciudad del Niño NGO), Sor Lourdes Reis Flores (Director of Hogar Malambo NGO) and Ariel Albano (SOS Children's Villages Panama).

All the persons involved showed great disposition to contribute to this evaluation, considering that improving RELAF's methodologies will allow for the establishment of effective mechanisms to carry out regional deinstitutionalisation processes.

In addition to this, the first meeting of the year of the "Monitoring Committee for Deinstitutionalisation" convened by SENNIAF was carried out during March. Its purpose was to provide continuity to the previous meetings made within the framework of the cooperation between UNICEF Panama and RELAF in 2016.

The meeting allowed for a deepening of the institutional adequacy processes that civil society organisations (Ciudad del Niño, Hogar Malambo and SOS Children's Villages Colón) carry out towards deinstitutionalisation. It focused on coordinating, with governmental institutions, the specific attention and support needed for the deinstitutionalisation of children, and on monitoring the situation of the more than 75 children that have already returned to their families. The meeting included the participation of Yasmín Cárdenas (Director of SENNIAF), Krysthel Lokan Rojas (RELAF Panama), Andrea Lo Presti (UNICEF Panama), Fortunato Peirotén (Ciudad del Niño NGO), Sor Lourdes Reis (Hogar Malambo and REDNANIAP) and Ariel Albano (SOS Children's Villages Panama). It also included the participation of representatives from the Ministry of Health, the Office for Childhood of the Panamanian Judiciary Organ, and others.

During November, RELAF and UNICEF Panama carried out the second Meeting for the Strengthening of Local Protection in Santiago de Veraguas, an activity within SENNIAF's working plan. Other organisations participated in the activity in addition to the SENNIAF team, including the Children's Court of Veraguas, MIDES Panama, MINSA, MIVIOT, MITRADEL, the First Lady's Office and representatives from the Children's Police. The activity aimed at strengthening the local protection system, focusing on interinstitutional coordination in order to protect and guarantee the right of children to family life.

The last of three workshops planned with children and adolescents from Hogar San José Malambo, Ciudad del Niño and SOS Children's Villages Colón was also conducted. These workshops were carried out within the framework of the reform and deinstitutionalisation processes led by these three NGOs. The participation of children in said processes is essential to achieve these objectives.

We are glad to let you know that many of the children with whom we have worked during this year spent the holidays with their families. In addition, in the cases that presented appropriate conditions, many of these children stayed living with their families after the holidays, thus having their right to family life restored. We expect that these family reintegrations are a good augury for many other children deprived of parental care in Panama and the region.

December saw the closure of our project in Panama. RELAF carried out an evaluation agenda with the key actors of the child protection system, from organisations such as SENNIAF, the Monitoring and Support Committee for Deinstitutionalisation, and with our partner, UNICEF Panama.

On the 5th, RELAF and UNICEF Panama held a closing meeting with Yazmín Cárdenas, Director of SENNIAF, to evaluate the actions taken during the cooperation and to present its results and products. The pilot test conducted in Casa Hogar Soná brought results and lessons to be projected onto national policies. The knowledge gathered during the pilot test has been put together into a "Systematisation report". This report was presented in the meeting along with the Foster Care Protocol, the Actuation Circuits (that aim to put the reforms and adaptations into effect) and the Financial Report (that shows the dimension of the expenditure in alternative care and compares it with the investment in the prevention of separation and abandonment). Both the Actuation Circuits and the Foster Care Protocol were validated by SENNIAF's technical teams during workshops carried out to present and improve the documents. It is important to note that SENNIAF requested support from RELAF for the application of the tools during 2017.

In turn, on December 6 a meeting was held with the Monitoring and Support Committee for Deinstitutionalisation. Teams from several organisations took part, such as RELAF, UNICEF Panama, SENNIAF, the Children's Court (represented by the Court President's assistant), the National Network to Support Children and Adolescents (Red Nacional de Apoyo a la Niñez y Adolescencia en Panamá, REDNANIAP), Ciudad del Niño, Hogar Malambo, SOS Children's Villages Colón and Clamor de Corazón. During the meeting, the work developed in 2016 was evaluated and new lines of action were projected for 2017, bolstering the commitment to keep on working towards deinstitutionalisation and towards the creation of foster care programmes.

On December 7, a meeting was held with UNICEF's Representative in Panama, Ms. Kyngsun Kim, UNICEF's Child Protection Officer, Ms. Sara Rodríguez, and with consultant Andrea Lopresti, in order to close the work done during the year and evaluate the cooperation between the organisation and RELAF. UNICEF positively evaluated the cooperation and considers that, jointly with RELAF, it has been able to make progress in the creation of conditions to support the projection of a national deinstitutionalisation policy.

After this important meeting, we held a working session at Ciudad del Niño, where we also evaluated our cooperation with the civil society in 2016 and discussed new actions for 2017. This meeting saw the participation of the RELAF team (represented by Matilde Luna, Federico Kapustiansky and Krysthel Lokan), Andrea Lopresti, and Mr. Fortunato Peirotén (Director of Ciudad del Niño) and his working team.

After the intense and fruitful 2016 RELAF Seminar, the agenda for implementing the right to family and community life to children in Panama continues.

Therefore, RELAF took part in the organisation of the National Conference on deinstitutionalization and the right to family and community life in Panama. The opening was led by Michelle Muschett, Deputy Minister of MIDES Panama, who expressed the commitment of the Panamanian State to childhood deinstitutionalisation (DI) programmes. Ms. Kim, representative of UNICEF Panama, highlighted the day as "historic, and a basis for the fulfillment of the right to family and community life" in the country.

For RELAF, Matilde Luna made the presentation "Regional context of deinstitutionalisation  processes" and headed a forum on the subject of "Adolescent participation". Javier Curcio (RELAF Consultant) presented the methodology "Study on institutionalisation costs vs alternative family care".

Also attending were several directors of Panamanian civil society organisations with which we have been undertaking deinstitutionalisation practices, such as Sister Lourdes Reiss (Director of Casa Hogar Malambo), Fortunato Peirotén (Director of Ciudad del Niño), and Iris Molinar (Director SOS Children’s Villages Colón). In more than a sense, the day was an opportunity to put these pilot tests onto a public policy level, through the construction of a national roadmap for DI.

We’d like to especially highlight the participation of Yomaira, Madeleine and Iris, three young girls newly restored to family life. Thanks to their courageous testimonies at the meeting, they have greatly increased awareness and commitment for these necessary changes.

Regarding the monitoring work performed with the civil society during September and October, 2 workshops were conducted with adolescents living in Ciudad del Niño, Casa Hogar Malambo and SOS Children's Villages Colón. These workshops are part of the actions being carried out as part of a preparation process for the deinstitutionalisation of these adolescents. In total, we worked with 45 adolescents, 15 from each organisation.

Regarding the work we’ve been carrying out with the Panamanian government, on October 19 we conducted a technical roundtable on deinstitutionalisation with the team of SENNIAF Panama, prosecutors, judges, and Children’s Police in Panama City. The table was chaired by Secretary Yasmín Cárdenas and had the attendance of experts Alejandro Morlachetti and Matilde Luna.

Moreover, following the recommendations arising from the systematisation of  the CHS pilot programme, we still pursue the construction of an alternative care subsystem in Santiago de Veraguas. We conducted an open forum between SENNIAF Veraguas, the First Lady’s Office, representatives of the Health System, the Children’s Police and MIDES Veraguas. In this instance, recommendations of the UN on alternative care were discussed, as well as the need to promote the necessary communication between these actors to prevent family separation and the institutionalisation of children.

This roundtable was the first of four planned tables, of which we will be reporting in upcoming newsletters.

We conducted several activities within the framework of the strong technical cooperation between RELAF, UNICEF Panamá, MIDES Panamá, SENNIAF and the civil society.

On August 23 and along with UNICEF Panama, we conducted a work meeting with the SENNIAF team on a roadmap for the implementation of a national process of deinstitutionalisation, analysing the system implemented in the Casa Hogar Soná Pilot Programme.

We also held several meetings with organisations from the civil society. On August 24, we met with the teams from Hogar Malambo and Ciudad del Niño. We conducted two work sessions to exchange technical practices and to evaluate the draft proposals for foster care and deinstitutionalisation draft proposals. Likewise, a record of the activities was discussed.

Together with SOS Children Villages Colón, we conducted an exchange workshop on August 25 to continue with the deinstitutionalisation processes and track the activities and agreements.

In addition, continuing with the planned agenda, we held the third meeting of the Monitoring Committee for the Deinstitutionalisation and Transformation of the three previously mentioned civil society organisations. We’ll keep reporting on any advances in this regard.

Finally, we’d like to share with you that, along with UNICEF Panama, we are organising a National Seminar on Deinstitutionalisation scheduled for October 18.

Continuing the technical cooperation that RELAF carries out together with UNICEF Panama, on July 13th, we conducted a training session with technicians from MIDES Panama.

It was aimed at operators from Red de Oportunidades, the Centro de Orientación y Atención Integral (COAI, Comprehensive Guidance and Care Center) and the Dirección de Servicios de Protección Social (Directorate of Social Protection Services) and focused on the strengthening of families of origin. Specifically, the model for the prevention of family separation was introduced and two questionnaires on information gathering were applied. These questionnaires’ aim is to diagnose the conditions of the country in order to develop a strategy for the prevention of family separation that can use our model as reference.

Regarding the technical cooperation that we’ve been undertaking with the Panamanian civil society, we are providing continuity to the work agendas planned with SOS Children’s Villages Colón, Hogar Malambo and Ciudad del Niño. With SOS Children’s Villages Colón we continue working on the bond between the children housed in the facilities and their families of origin. Hogar Malambo continues its efforts to deinstitutionalise 25% of the children currently residing there, as planned. With regard to the project with Ciudad del Niño, Daily Support programmes  have been strengthened, and it is expected that 15 children will be deinstitutionalised by the end of 2016. In turn, we are working together to systematise their programmes in a field manual.

The deinstitutionalisation pilot programme at Casa Hogar Soná continues. A great outcome of the pilot, the organisation is developing systematisation documents and guidelines for deinstitutionalisation processes in order to project a DI policy nationwide.

During June, the RELAF team based in Panama kept working on the technical cooperation with UNICEF Panama and the civil society, with the intention of building a subsystem focused on the protection of children separated from their families or at risk of suffering such a fate.

During the last week of the month, Federico Kapustiansky (Advocacy Coordinator for RELAF) traveled to Panama to hold meetings with several working groups.

Both government authorities, MIDES Panama and SENNIAF, as well as emblematic institutions of the Panamanian civil society (Hogar Malambo, SOS Children’s Villages Colón and â€ªCiudad del Niño) are running programmes and reviewing, adapting them, and studying strategies for deinstitutionalisation.

All these actions have a dual purpose. The first is to change the reality of institutionalised children in the short term and return them to their families or to others who want to care for and protect them. The second is to create actions, protocols, programmes and a new regulatory framework to promote, prevent, protect and restore the right to family and community life of all Panamanian children.

In this regard, it’s with great joy that we share some of the results of the Casa Hogar Soná (CHS) Pilot Programme. In June, 4 teenagers and 1 child, son of one of the teenagers, were returned to family life. In turn, we expect that five more girls be deinstitutionalised during July. We are still adjusting the first draft for the normalisation of the CHS pilot programme, and, as it further develops, we hope it can be applied to other deinstitutionalisation programmes and/or the conversion of full-time institutions.

Under an institutional restructuring plan, the three NGOs taking part of the experience as "witness cases" are showing significant progress: Malambo has reduced the number of institutionalised children by 25%. Ciudad del Niño has strengthened its Daily and Family Support Programmes, both fundamental in preventing family separation.

We have deepened our work with SOS Children's Villages of Panama/Colón so that they can adapt their practices in compliance with the standards of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Guidelines for Alternative Care of Children.

RELAF continues to work on its technical cooperation with UNICEF Panama, MIDES Panama, SENNIAF, REDNANIAP and our focus points.

From all of the activities carried out in Panama in May, we’d like to highlight the sensitisation workshop for the adaptation of the practices used to protect children and adolescents deprived of parental care, carried out ​​in Arraiján on the 9th together with civil society organisations and with the participation of caregivers from Ciudad del Niño.

RELAF continues to work on the technical cooperation being carried out with UNICEF Panama, MIDES Panama, SENNIAF, REDNANIAP and our local team.

For this very reason, Matilde Luna visited the Central American country and, together with our local team, held meetings with the authorities and operators of the mentioned agencies to continue working on the Pilot Deinstitutionalisation Programme of Casa Hogar Soná, specifically to promote the Foster Families project.

From the activities supporting the processes of deinstitutionalisation and institutional transformation of Panamanian NGOs, it’s worth noting the workshop conducted on April 28, "Processes in the light of the 10 steps Methodology.", held at the premises of Ciudad del Niño and with the participation of teams from SOS Villages Panama Colón, Hogar Malambo and Ciudad del Niño, who are working on the reform of their practices.

On April 29, we conducted a meeting to create the Committee for the Support and Collaboration in Deinstitutionalisation Processes, involving the participation of authorities from Unicef Panama MIDES Panama, Red Nacional De Apoyo a La Niñez y Adolescencia En Panamá - Rednaniap (National Network to Support Children and Adolescents in Panama), the Observatory for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (ODENA) Panama, MINSA Panama, Hogar Malambo, SOS Children’s Villages Panama (Official) Colón and â€ªCiudad Del Niño.

On this visit, we shared an evening with the girls of Casa Hogar Soná, in which we are working to change the practices, transform the institution and on deinstitutionalise the girls. The RELAF team, along with professionals from the local MIDES and SENNIAF offices, are sharing the difficult task of preparing the girls along this process.

We continue carrying out our technical cooperation in this country. We are still working with SOS Children’s Villages Panama, Ciudad Malambo and Ciudad del Niño on the reform of their practices. In this process, some children are returning to family life.  The technical cooperation between UNICEF and RELAF is possible due to the enormous efforts of these civil society organisations that, in light of their commitment to the right of children to family and community life, are working towards their own transformation.

As for the Pilot Programme in Casa Hogar Soná, we continue to seek for solutions for the return of young girls and adolescents to family life. This project is a ‘case by case’ kind of work, given the complexity of the family situation of these children, but we intend to take more extensive actions to finally close down the institution and transform it. Following our trip in February and with the support of the local team, a special committee was created in MIDES Panama that will focus exclusively on closing down Casa Hogar Soná.

As a favourable result, we’d like to mention that girls had been living in the institution for more than 4 years and who had no possible perspective of leaving it, have finally been given the opportunity to enjoy family life once again.

Matilde Luna traveled to Panama to carry out, together with the local RELAF team, an intense work agenda from February 22 to February 27, along with UNICEF Panama, the government and the Panamanian civil society. On the 22nd, we met to work on the bill to create a comprehensive protection system for children in Panama. At the meeting, we had the participation of authorities from UNICEF Panama (Sara Rodríguez, Jorge Genareas and Aida Oliver) and Esmeralda Troitiño, Commissioner of the IACHR. Matilde Luna, Elisa Constable and Krysthel Lokan represented RELAF.

Following the planned agenda for the bill, on February 24 we participated in a working session of the Interinstitutional Group that works on the preparation of the bill. The working group is led by MIDES Panama, and comprises, among others, SENNIAF, the Judiciary Organ of Panama (Children’s Court), Cosme Moreno, representing MIES, and the expert Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño, Commissioner for the Inter American Commission on Human Rights, who voiced technical considerations about the bill.

Moreover, we worked with the Panamanian civil society. On February 23, RELAF and representatives from the technical team of the Red Nacional De Apoyo a La Niñez y Adolescencia En Panamá - Rednaniap (REDNANIAP, National Network to Support Children and Adolescents in Panama) met at the offices of Ciudad del Niño. In addition to the RELAF team, REDNANIAP and Ciudad del Niño, authorities and technicians from Clamor del Corazón and SOS Children’s Villages Panama from Colón City were also present.

We also met with the team from Hogar Malambo on the morning of February 25, where we continued to support the development of strategies for the deinstitutionalisation and transformation of the institution.

Following up on the pilot deinstitutionalisation programme of Casa Hogar Soná, we met with the team of the National Directorate of Social Protection Services of MIDES Panama. With this meeting, we sought to bolster the development of concrete actions for the transformation of said full-time female institution located in the province of Veraguas, and mainly worked on the design of measures to prevent new girls from entering the institutions. The meeting had positive results, new commitments were added, and initial commitments were strengthened.

Afterwards, we moved to the Province of Veraguas for the February 26 meeting with local teams from SENNIAF and MIDES. We worked with the technical teams of the pilot programme on the application of the previously agreed standards and protocols.

In recent months, we made several trips to Panama, and all of them were characterized by an intense work agenda. The implementation of the "Model for the Prevention of Abandonment and Institutionalisation" with UNICEF, SENNIAF, MIDES Panama, and other key players in the areas of health and early education, at the hands of Matilde Luna and Sara González, was held in October. In November, in the middle of the National Holidays Parades in Panama, a call for Foster Families for the deinstitutionalisation of children and adolescents of the area was held in Soná, Veraguas.

In addition, we worked on the documentary about Casa Hogar Soná, as part of the Pilot Plan. In December, we met with UNICEF Panama, SENNIAF, MIDES, and the Office of the First Lady, as well as with several NGOs, REDNANIAP, Hogar Malambo and Clamor del Corazón to identify obstacles, strengths and pending matters in order to deepen the work regarding deinstitutionalisation and prevention of the separation from the family of origin in the country.

Continuing with the work undertaken in Panama, RELAF, with substantial support from SENNIAF, MIDES Panama and UNICEF Panama, carried out the implementation of the "Model for the Prevention of Abandonment and Institutionalisation" (available at http://www.relaf.org/materiales/ModeloPrevencion.pdf). This was conducted by Matilde Luna and Sara González, and held at the UNICEF offices located in Ciudad del Saber, on October 26 with the presence of representatives from the areas of Social Development and Health, the Secretariat for Children, Youth and Family and people related to early education.

On October 27, SENNIAF personnel was trained in Panama City and Colón regarding the prevention of early separation. Afterwards, on the 29th, Matilde Luna and Sara Gonzalez moved to the province of Veraguas to continue the implementation of the Model for the Prevention of early separation, this time with the presence of representatives from decentralised offices from MIDES and SENNIAF, along with courts, kindergartens, health centers and professionals who work in services and programmes for pregnant women and young children.

On the other hand, Miguel Sorbello undertook​​ activities at Hogar Malambo as a pilot case to the civil society of institutional restructuring, specifically strengthening programmes of community outreach, this time with the revision of the programme entitled "Your dignity is valuable" (prevention and protection of children victims of sexual abuse and exploitation).

It’s important to highlight the emerging developments that are taking place in Panama in relation to the creation of family-based alternative care for children. While it is a process that will take time and careful adjustments, these new ways to care for children and their families break decades of hegemony of the institutional model, which used to be the only response in the Panamanian childcare system.

Soná District parade

Within the parades commemorating the Panamanian national holidays in November, in the district of Soná, SENNIAF, with the support of MIDES Panama, UNICEF Panama, and RELAF, organised a campaign to promote and strengthen the ‎Foster Families Programme aimed at the deinstitutionalisation of children and adolescents of the town, calling on families and the community in general.

There was a great deal of commitment from the teams, and a good ability to speak for the cause of children and adolescents of Panama. For us, it is also a step that brings us closer to our goal of restoring the rights of the girls housed at Casa Hogar Soná, and that we hope to accomplish soon.

Casa Hogar Soná documentary

In the past few months, together with UNICEF Panama, we have been working on the documentary about the full-time institution Casa Hogar Soná, located in the town of Soná (Veraguas). With this film, we seek to inform decision-makers on how girls and teenagers interned there live, and to accomplish one of our goals: the relocation of those girls into households of the region.

Panama: 2015 assessment, projections for 2016

RELAF met with many actors in the region in the first week of December, including representatives from UNICEF Panama, SENNIAF, and MIDES Panama, the First Lady’s Office, and the NGOs REDNANIAP and Clamor del Corazón, to identify obstacles and strengths, in order to deepen the work towards the deinstitutionalisation of children and the prevention of separations in this country.

In accordance with the developing Pilot Plan, it is expected for the girls to leave Casa Hogar Soná (Veraguas) and to start enjoying family life. In that sense, we worked with SENNIAF and MIDES Veraguas teams as well as with Clamor del Corazón to evaluate the possibility of having the girls leave Casa Hogar Soná and go live in a family. The first stage of this deinstitutionalisation plan is expected to take place in the first half of 2016. Once the working sessions ended, we held a party at Casa Hogar Soná with the slogan "The right to happiness". This year has been intense for all of us working on this project, but especially for the girls housed there. Many have re-lived part of their lives and stories to make a stand in relation to their rights and to have a say in the decisions made ​​about them. But while they go through this difficult process, they are still girls, who like to play, have fun and live their childhood in the best way possible.

Moreover, we aim to begin the process of conversion of three more institutions, together with REDNANIAP. Some of the concrete actions that will take place in 2016 include staff training, donor awareness, workshops with the participation of children to empower them about their right to live in family and community, and a survey of local needs in order to offer new community services.

Finally, a meeting was held with Cecilie Modvar, Protection Officer from UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean, with the aim of strengthening and deepening the regional process which was intensified this year in relation to the different adjustments in many countries of our region that are taking steps to provide childcare in line with the CRC.

We continued our technical cooperation with UNICEF Panama during September with a full agenda. Our technical team conducted training workshops in the city of Santiago de Veraguas and in Panama City, at the headquarters of the Ministries of Children, Youth and Family (SENNIAF) of those cities. We are also moving forward with the pilot program at Casa Hogar Soná.

We were lucky to have the participation of officials from SENNIAF and the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES). The workshops were conducted by Matilde Luna (Director of RELAF) and our legal consultant María Pilar Ramírez.

In the same vein, we conducted a workshop with NGOs from Panama on “Adoption, the Right to Identity and to be heard / Adoption, International Comparative Framework”, at the UNICEF offices in Panama City, Clayton. We met with significant NGOs knowledgeable in the subject, with the goal of further improving the local adoption policies, focusing on a comparative regional legal framework of good practices. We also discussed the improvement of the preparatory and post-adoption processes from the children’s psychological point of view and, of course, for their adoptive families.

With the aim of achieving deinstitutionalisation and the full exercise of the right to family and community life, we are still moving forward with our Pilot Plan for the girls at Casa Hogar Soná. In that sense, we documented some of their testimonies, part of their histories and of the reality they live every day. It was also an appropriate occasion to conduct a workshop on the mutual recognition of skills and virtues that girls have and how they can develop and use these qualities to assert their human rights as children and adolescents. Also, UNICEF Panama and RELAF’s technical team were received by the Director of MIDES in Veraguas, Professor Gloria Camaño, who has shown a strong commitment and support to our actions in Casa Hogar Soná.

As part of our agenda, we conducted a workshop and forum jointly with UNICEF Panamá, held at the Presidential Palace ("Palacios de las Garzas") with key players from the Panamanian child protection system. Authorities from SENNIAF, the Legislature, magistrates, representatives of the Colleges of Psychology, Law and Social Work and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were present. At that meeting, we worked and talked about adoption in the country, as well as about comparative frameworks with other countries of the region.

RELAF and UNICEF Panama are both working tirelessly for the right to family and community life for all children in the country, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

During July and August, RELAF's team has continued working on the actions undertaken in Panama. The technical cooperation agreement with UNICEF aims at adapting the public policies in order to properly care for and protect children and, more specifically, to prevent the institutionalisation of children and to design strategies and alternative care programmes.

In order to make a diagnosis on the situation, during June a study on the current condition of adoption in Panama was carried out within the framework of the process to create a child rights protection system. This research is to be finished soon and has been a key element into having an up-to-date evaluation and into offering orientations for improvement, developing specialised interventions on the deinstitutionalisation of children and adolescents. Carrying through a “Pilot test” on deinstitutionalisation is part of this technical strategy: a Pilot test is already undergoing in Casa Hogar Soná (Veraguas province), which is within the sphere of the Ministry of Social Development (Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, MIDES, in Spanish). RELAF met the staff working at Casa Hogar Soná and the children housed there individually in order to fully know each singular situation. RELAF also held a meeting with the authorities of the Municipality to raise their awareness on the issue and articulating the local and community networks that will allow this Pilot test to be implemented.

This intense schedule also involved technical support activities intended to train the working teams of several programmes of the National Secretariat for Childhood, Adolescence and Family (Secretaría Nacional de Niñez, Adolescencia y Familia, SENNIAF, in Spanish) based in Central, Colón, Veraguas and Chiriquí offices. Additionally, the activities included a follow-up on the strategy for the strengthening of the civil society on the matter, focused mainly on the professionals and operators who are part of the National Network to Support the Children and Adolescents of Panama (Red Nacional de Apoyo a la Niñez y Adolescencia de Panamá, REDNANIAP, in Spanish).

MIDES authorities ratified their involvement and their support to the technical actions promoted by RELAF and UNICEF with the purpose of preserving and guaranteeing the right to family life of all Panamanian children.

Between October 22 and 26, Matilde Luna (Project leader of RELAF) and Mónica Tarducci (researcher and member of RELAF’s research team) carried out activities as part of the cooperation agreement between UNICEF and RELAF, more specifically, the production of the Report on Institutionalised Childhood. The activities, as coordinated by UNICEF and SENNIAF (National Secretariat of Childhood), encompass the aims of improving the living conditions of those children without parental care who reside in residential care institutions and of assisting in the implementation of community- and family-based care alternatives.

The Seminar-Workshop “Foster Care as an exercise of alternative care for the protection of children’s rights” was coordinated by RELAF representatives and included the participation of professionals from the judicial branch, technicians and decision-makers from SENNIAF and representatives from non-governmental organisations. It allowed them to reflect on and revise the current practices, taking into account the friendly versions of the Guidelines as a conceptual framework.

In addition to this, in order to gather information for the Report on Discrimination, visits to the residential care institutions “Ofrece un hogar”, “Metro amigo”, “Ciudad del niño” and “San José de Malambo” were conducted. This was carried out in order to get to know the locations and work modalities and to allow meetings with their directors, operators and children to be held. Also, in relation to the Study on Institutionalised Childhood, the promotion of the “Study on the Current State of the Rights of Children Living in Residential Care Institutions Without Parental Care” was -and still is- vital. This Report has been strengthened by the People’s Ombudsman of Panama with the cooperation of the UN Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund and UNICEF.

Finally, important meetings of a different caliber were held with local counterparts: with Rosaria Corea (local expert); Jennie Barb (consultant for the research and production of the Protocol and Handbook for the assistance of children without parental care in residential care institutions); and Roderick Chaverry (referent of the civil society in this country). In addition, meetings were held and interviews were conducted with SENNIAF for the analysis, evaluation and drawing of conclusions on the activities, to identify the most worrying issues that would require certain practices to be altered or eradicated, as well as on potential improvements needed to accomplish the rights of children deprived of parental care.

Next, you can have access to materials of interest about this country, the Study on the current state of the rights of children deprived of parental care, and the Protocol and Handbook for the assistance of children without parental care in residential care institutions:

Study

Protocol

Handbook