KEY MEETINGS AND APPLICATION OF THE FRIENDLY VERSIONS, THE LINES OF WORK OF TWO NEW STAGES OF THE PILOT TEST

During September and October, two work stages of the Pilot Test took place. The first one was coordinated by María Elena Verdún, from Paraguay; the second one, by Federico Kapustiansky and Miguel Sorbello, from Argentina. In both cases, meetings were held with the actors that are participating in the Pilot Test, and progress was made regarding the regional initiative to stop the internment of babies. Also, training activities aimed at operators and adolescents who live in institutions or foster families were carried out using the friendly versions of the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children.

Trainings and work meetings

María Elena Verdún's agenda included several activities. First, a meeting with the team that is developing the pilot test (among them, members of Chile's National Service for Minors, UNICEF and RELAF), in order to reveal the progress of the project. Second, a workshop with the NGOs involved in the pilot test: ADRA's Foster Care Programme and Santa Catalina Residence. In this context, the methodological steps that allow for the deinstitutionalisation of children and for their entrance into the foster care programme were analysed. In addition, the subject of appropriation was discussed along with the role of foster families in relation to the biological families, and the need to raise awareness was brought up among the Judiciary of the violation of rights that institutionalisation brings.

Likewise, a Seminar entitled 'Processes of evaluation and intervention in children's life situations from a family- and community-based perspective' was carried out. It included the participation of 25 persons who work with foster families or for institutions, who debated about the situation of children. The activities of the Seminar also included a sensitisation workshop with the participation of institutions that work with SENAME, in order to give visibility to the foster care programme in the local working spheres. This workshop had the participation of SENAME'S technical operators and representatives from the Programme of Specialised Intervention (PIE), the Office of Rights Protection (OPD), the Programme of Brief Intervention (PIB), Ambulatory Diagnosis (DAM), the Community Promotion Project (PPC), the Project for the Remediation of Severe Abuse (PRM), and UNICEF.

To close these activities, a meeting was held with Raquel Morales Ibáñez, Head of SENAME's Adoptions Department, an important meeting in the development of the Regional Initiative to stop the institutionalisation of children under the age of 3.