RELAF IN CHILE: NEW STAGE OF THE PILOT TEST

Between August 14 and 17, the second stage of training for the Pilot Test was carried out with the participation of operators, experts and the staff of various institutions involved in the care and protection of children.

During the first day, representatives from RELAF, UNICEF and SENAME visited the Foster Care Programme of Adra, which operates in all the regions of Chile and is one of the NGOs that host the Pilot Test.  Its history and modality of work were presented in a meeting with the staff of the Programme. Also, the need to carry out a wider coordination between the healthcare, education and housing policies and those that deal with the restoration of rights was highlighted. The staff of Adra forms a high level, consolidated technical team, with a wide experience and commitment to its task.

The following day, the Seminar on the care of children and adolescents “Recreating opportunities” was held with the participation of 80 people, among them children’s institution’s staff, foster families, professionals from the areas of healthcare and the judiciary, and members of the local organisations that participate in the Pilot Test. The opening was in charge of Soledad Larraín, from UNICEF, and Magdalena Lioi, the Chief of the Rights Protection Department of SENAME.

Judith Aude, Uruguayan representative of RELAF, presented the experience of the development of foster care in her country, its background, the learnt lessons, and the proposal to improve childcare institutions. During the debate, issues such as the importance of the legal improvement in Chile (which is being discussed in the Congress), the need to have an array of responses for each particular situation, and the tension between the need of a substantial institutional transformation and the resistance to it because of cultural customs were raised.

Then, Judith Aude dealt with the subjects of the transformation of social intervention, the cooperative work between different institutions, and the protocols and procedures. In this instance, the participants discussed the identification of partners and possible allies for the development of the Pilot Test, and the importance of taking into account different institutional approaches and working logics in order to open fluid communication channels between the institutions. It is worthwhile to highlight the interventions of the judges about the necessity for them to approach the work of the operators so as to achieve the coordination of both universal and targeted policies.

During the third day, a meeting was held with the staff of Adra and the children’s home “Casa Santa Catalina”, which is one of the organizations that host the Pilot Test. There, discussions were raised about the aim of improving the cooperative work between different institutions, by enhancing the relation with the Judiciary, as well as about the revision of the legal framework and the need to further develop the strategies to summon and recruit foster families.

During the last day, there was a visit to the children’s home “Casa Santa Catalina” with its directors. They expressed that the commitment of this institution to go through a transformation and improvement process should be planned for all the institutions of the country.

To sum up, the evaluation of this experience was very positive. The Pilot Test is targeted to children under the age of three, that is, the group that shows the most extremely traumatic consequences of institutionalization. This is why it is necessary to elaborate strategies, new methodologies, and innovative ways of intervention from a political and ethical point of view that is respectful of the Rights of children.