THE RIGHT TO LIVE IN A FAMILY WAS AT THE CENTRE OF TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED IN CORONEL DORREGO, ARGENTINA

‘The Right to Community and Family-based Care of Children and Adolescents from Coronel Dorrego’ was the title of a series of technical cooperation activities carried out between October 15 and 17 in this municipality of Buenos Aires. Organised by the Ministry of Social Development, it was also coordinated by RELAF, thus continuing the collaboration in this region as initiated in Puan and Pigüé last year.

The purpose of this event was to allow work to be created with the participation of the local community in order to achieve its commitment to the protection of children deprived of parental care.

In this structure, work was carried out in areas used for the reflection and exchange of information with regard to the advancement and challenges that may be encountered in the improvement of the protection system of Coronel Dorrego. This was achieved together with representatives of the civil society and the press, operators of the Rights Promotion and Protection services of the city and those nearby, adolescents participating in the Envión Programme (of the Ministry of Social Development of the Province of Buenos Aires) and key actors in the prevention of family break-up.

Training activities for the application of the friendly versions of the UN Guidelines were held with the participation of 32 operators from different cities of the region (Coronel Dorrego, Bahía Blanca, Monte Hermoso y Coronel Suarez). Among the obstacles as highlighted by them, they included the shortage of time to reflect on the appropriate strategies suitable for each particular case, the lack of space needed to listen to children’s opinions and views, and the difficulties related to resources needed to provide adequate answers. As a proposal to achieve improvements, the need of better training and a wider participation and commitment of the society was emphasized as well as the necessity to deepen the interconnection and coordination between all the actors that work towards the protection of children’s rights.

Afterwards, the workshop to apply the child-friendly version was carried out with 17 children and adolescents from the Envión Programme, who expressed their desire to have access to spaces of communication and support, as well as their uneasiness due to their mistrust of society. Nonetheless, they remarked on the situations where they could see improvement, such as the existence of new spaces where their voices are listened to.

Meanwhile, a training session was held for the 35 key actors to the prevention of family break-up: professionals from the Education, Health and Rights Promotion and protection services. This represented a reflection sphere on the communication and cooperation between those who work for the prevention of situations that might lead to family break-up.

The local community was a key player, too: an open talk was organised for families, professionals of the local protection services and students of social work, with the participation of the authorities of the Ministry of Social Development of the Municipality. In this space, Federico Kapustiansky (member of RELAF’s working team) and Hernán Lago (member of the network and social worker working with foster families in this region of the province) made a presentation about the process of evaluation and training of the future foster families, and about the importance of the commitment of the whole community in order to achieve improvements in the childcare system. Also, Verónica, a foster mother, described her experience fostering a 16 year old adolescent.

Finally, RELAF’s representatives held a meeting with the authorities of the local Ministry of Social Development to close the activities. The evaluation of this intense agenda was positive: the activities allowed the team to interact with different actors, having a whole vision of the situation of children’s rights. In this way, it was possible to build some lines of action to influence on the development of better alternative care measures.