MEETING WITH SILVIA PALOMO, SECRETARY OF SOCIAL WELFARE

In the frame of an agenda of activities in Guatemala, Matilde Luna met with Silvia Palomo, Secretary of Social Welfare. During the meeting, the Secretary explained to the project leader the important advances made in childhood policies under her direction: a greater level of financial assistance for families, a widening of the coverage of the Secretariat into the interior of the country and areas which were not previously included, among others.

However, in respect to the provision of alternative care in the country, the Hogar Solidario (see note “Visit to the Hogar Solidario”) continues to hold a huge number of children and adolescents from all over the country. This situation is particularly worrying to RELAF, given that this state initiative goes against what we are working for in our region: deinstitutionalisation and the closure of large-scale institutions.

From RELAF, we have expressed our concern to the authorities and we trust that the work coordinated by all local Guatemalan actors can lead to the creation of another system, in which the prevention of separation of children from their families can be achieved and appropriate alternative care can be provided to those who need it.

Visit to the Hogar Solidario

RELAF visited the Hogar Solidario, a state-run large-scale institution that depends on the Secretariat of Social Welfare and whose characteristics are those of a true institution: isolation, ‘shutting in’, the deprivation of freedom. All of this, while keeping in mind that the children and adolescents housed there do not have any kind of insertion within the community: their lives take place “indoors”, as access to services such as healthcare, education, recreation, etc., all take place inside the institution. This means the panorama comes to be truly worrying.

Hogas Solidario currently houses a total of 774 children and adolescents between the ages of 0 and 18 years. The admission of babies is of special concern: there are 17 babies up to the age of 6 months. The number of children under the age of 6 is to worry as well (there are 204 children younger than 6 and 55 younger than 3). These groups of children require special types of care and stimulation that these for their integral development.

RELAF values the effort and the dedication of the professionals working there, but we must express once again, as we have done in other circumstances, our unhappiness in finding programmes in our region which work in contrast to what RELAF is promoting: deinstitutionalisation and the provision of alternative care to guarantee the right of all Latin American children to live in a family and community.

Articulation/coordination roundtable on Foster Care

RELAF was present in the panel of the articulation roundtable on foster care, made up of the Secretariat of Social Welfare, Buckner Guatemala and Refugio de la Niñez. The formation of this panel was one of the recommendations sent by Matilde Luna in the consultancy carried out in October 2010 for UNICEF Guatemala, in which an evaluation of the Substitute Families Programme took place. Today, the panel is established and working well.

The three organisations are working in unison. Despite still having certain aims they focus on, the three programmes are making important advances in the establishment and consolidation of foster care in Guatemala: these are being positioned as trustworthy and transparent pilot programmes, are doing a good job strengthening the family unit and preventing separations and are experiencing good outcomes with foster care in extended families.

Meeting with Alejandra Vásquez, Director of the IPS in UNICEF

The RELAF team met with Alejandra Vásquez, Director of the IPS, and with Dora Alicia Muñoz (UNICEF Guatemala). The IPS is a non-governmental organisation that works to investigate, prevent and provide juridical help to victims of sexual violence.

The IPS works in Huehuetenango, Sololá and Guatemala City. It is part of the Social Movement and is accompanied by CEJIL, the High Commission of Human Rights and the National Panel on Migrations, dividing the country into 3 regions.

In the meeting, Alejandra Vásquez expressed her concern about the situation of children and adolescents in institutions. Since the ban of international adoptions, there has been a lack of financing in such institutions, as the majority of funds came from foreign donors interested in sustaining these sectors due to the fact that they were the link between the foreign adoptive families and the Guatemalan children. As international adoption is now closed, children’s homes have stopped being of such interest to donors and the situation in which the children there are living is, in many cases, extremely poor.

Facing the next elections in Guatemala and concerned about this and other aspects of the politics, a group of NGOs has created a minimal agenda of childhood and adolescence to be submitted to the candidates. The development of family-based alternative care is one of the priorities, together with the necessity of having skilled, qualified human resources in the whole child protection system, among other aspects.

RELAF shared the friendly versions of the Guidelines with Alejandra Vásquez. She positively valued the benefits these materials can bring in preventing the separation of children from their families and in strengthening the childcare abilities of the extended family, two aspects that today are being broadcast in a campaign to raise awareness in Quiché and Spanish.

The challenges Guatemala faces in the future are multiple. Firstly, to accomplish that the government set aside more resources for foster care programmes, as today the shortage of resources, both human and material, is seen as an obstacle. On the other hand, the lack of foster families is also an aspect that needs to be improved, along with the extending of the time-frame in which families can apply for a child. The delays by the Federal Attorney’s Office and in the development of the court hearings are two aspects which favour the long stays of children in alternative care, and this needs to be reverted. The main threat is the illegality and the lack of transparency which affects all institutions and their processes in the country. It is for this reason that a ‘double standard’ can be identified, also in the practice of foster care: some families are subjected to exhaustive evaluations, preparation and monitoring, while others receive children directly through the courts. Finally, in relation to the Regulations of the Substitute Families Programmes, the production of standards to provide assistance to children has begun. The intention of these standards is to achieve a better childcare, using a rights-based approach.