Dear friends,

This is a special edition of our Bulletin. Our Seminar: “Celebration of experiences. Strengthening advances to guarantee the right to a family” will take place in Foz do Iguassu in less than a month. There are many pieces of news on this event that we want to share.

We invite you to get informed and join this event!

We remind you that any information you might want to share and publish in our Electronic Newsletter must be sent to info@relaf.org Thank you all for your contributions! See you in Brazil!

 

Red Latinoamericana de Acogimiento Familiar
Dirección postal: Rivadavia 926, Piso 10º,
1002 Cuidad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tel. (00 54 11) 4342-7672 / e-mail: info@relaf.org / Web: www.relaf.org

 

Seminar Organizing Committee: important meeting in Foz do Iguassu.

Relaf continues working hard in the organization of RELAF Seminar 2010: “Celebration of experiences. Strengthening advances to guarantee the right to a family”, which will be held in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil on September 2nd, 3rd and 4th and is organized together with Red Proteger as its local partner and the relevant support of the government of Brazil and Itaipú

As part of the process of organization, the Seminar Organizing Committee had a meeting on July 26th and 27th in the headseat of Nosso Lar and Itaipú in Foz, with the participation of Ivania Ferronatto (Red Proteger), Mirtha Baez (Itaipu), Jucelino Moreira Bispo (Secretary of Human Rights of the Republic), Edinalva Severo (Municipal Secretariat of Social action), Olivério Pacheco (organization of the event), Carlos Luz (communications advisor) and Sara González and Matilde Luna on behalf of Relaf.

Everything is being prepared to receive more than 500 people from all over Latin America. Up to now there have been registrations of people from more than 18 American and European countries.

 

 

 

 

We are pleased to announce the participation of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the Republic of Brazil in the opening of the event

During the meetings of the Seminar Organizing Committee, the Brazilian General Board of Directors of Itaipú had important news for the working team: the President of the Republic of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will participate in the opening of the event on September 2nd.

Thus, exchanges on the right to community- family- based care of children in Latin America is part of the agenda of the highest authority of Brazil.

President Lula, we celebrate your awareness on Latin American childhood!

http://blogdojoeldelima.blogspot.com/2010/07/joel-confirma-presenca-de-lula-em-foz.html

 

 

 

 

 

Relaf in the Niñ@Sur Initiative

In the framework of the Seminar for the Niñ@Sur Initiative “Dialogues with Inter-American and Universal Human Rights protection systems based on Initiative”, which was held at Argentina’s Foreign Office on July 13th and 14th, Relaf presented the Relaf Seminar 2010 as a relevant activity that will be held in Brasil for the promotion of the implementation of the UN Guidelines for alternative care of children.

Among other relevant authorities, Mrs. Marta Mauras and Mrs. Rosa María Ortiz, both members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child were present; together with Dr. Juana María Ibáñez Rivas, advocate at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; Liz Torres, minister of childhood of Paraguay; as well as representatives of the governments of Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil and representatives of Latin American coalitions for the rights of the child.

Brasil asume el apoyo al evento, durante su presidencia pro- témpore. La innovadora Iniciativa Niñ@sur, se encuentra instituida en el marco de la Reunión de las Altas Autoridades de Derechos Humanos del Mercosur y los países asociados.

 

Previous meetings to Relaf Seminar 2010: Venezuela

 

Caracas, Venezuela-.On July 29th at the UNICEF office in Venezuela there was a meeting with the participation of relevant actors of governmental and non-governmental organizations, who manage programs of alternative care for children and adolescents deprived of parental care.
The objective of the meeting was to present Relaf Seminar 2010 and share the experiences of the different programs with the purpose of identifying common elements as regards strengths and weaknesses, so that the delegation of Venezuela can attend the Seminar with a clear idea of opportunities of enrichment with other delegations in that sphere of exchange and learning.

During the meeting a telecommunication was established with Matilde Luna, who was able to talk to all the participants. She took advantage of the opportunity to tell them about the Seminar and asked them to participate in the event, inviting families that guarantee alternative care of children to give their testimony.

The group agreed on the need to multiply these working meetings, not only as a way to organize their participation in Relaf Seminar, but also as necessary and valuable spheres of effective communication between the state, the civil society and the families in order to guarantee the implementation of the right to community- family- based care of Venezuelan children.

 

Participation of the Articulated Project RELAF/ISS in Relaf Seminar 2010

 

share their work experiences in the field of protection of the rights of children, adolescents and families in the continent.
So far, the presences of Sor Dora Elena Méndez Arriaga (Comisión Arquidiocesana de Pastoral Social Cáritas, Bolivia), Julie Rosicky (International Social Service/USA); Dick Chamney (International Social Service Canada) and Graciela Gónzalez (International Social Service Venezuela) have been confirmed.

Those organizations have experience in the management of cases of international family conflicts, or separations of some of its members in different countries; situations produced by migratory movements that have derived in the violation of rights of children and adolescents. They will share these experiences with the participants in the event.

We encourage governmental and non-governmental organizations to have further knowledge on the RELAF/ISS project if they wish, by sending an e-mail to iss.relaf@relaf.org

 

Latin American friendly versions of the UN Guidelines for alternative care of children

Relaf has signed a cooperation agreement with UNICEF TACRO the Americas and Caribbean Regional Office in order to elaborate two tools for the implementation of the UN Guidelines for alternative care of children.
The works that will result are: a Latin American friendly version for children and adolescents and a Document of Diffusion and Human Rights Standards for the prevention of separation of parental care, as well as those that refer to the provision of parental care.

During the development of the Seminar both of the documents, which are currently being made by a team of Relaf, will be validated through group work. As regards adults, it will be carried out following the technique of focus group, and there will be workshops with children and adolescents, in which the Latin American friendly version for children and adolescents will be jointly elaborated.

After the seminar finishes, the documents will be uploaded on our web page, in order to give Relaf members the opportunity to review them and make their contributions for the elaboration of the final versions of the documents, which will be published by the end of this year.

We look forward to having your collaboration during the whole process so that the documents are enriched.

 

Elaboration of audio-visual material during the Seminar

During the Seminar a team of Relaf will produce audio-visual material on foster care and the work of the Network on this subject. In order to achieve this, testimonies, opinions and experiences of Relaf members will be registered during the three days of activities in Fos do Iguassu. The video will be a tool for information and diffusion on the significance of parental care and the work carried out by the different organizations that are part of Relaf.

 

RELAF and CHI in the Seminar

During Relaf Seminar 2010, Sara González, who is the benchmark for communications of Relaf, will coordinate a meeting on child help lines with the participation of the Executive Director of CHI, Nenita La Rose, as well as the Representative for Latin America, Magdalena Aguilar.

The objective of the meeting in Foz is to encourage the articulated work between the organizations that are part of Relaf to advance in the creation and strengthening of help lines for addressing the issue of children without parental care out of their countries of origin, particularly in border regions of Latin American countries.

 

Enrollments and presentations of works.

The call for the presentation of works has been closed: several works with excellent proposals from countries in the region were received. Experiences of other countries will be present, too. We want to make a special mention to the one sent by the Caribbean Foster Care Network.

Thank you all!

Enrollments are still open: To get registered, please download the Registration Form that is on www.relaf.org and send it to seminario2010esp@relaf.org .

Enrollment and participation are free of charge and vacancies are limited!

 

The English version of the “Latin American Dissemination Document, children and adolescents without parental care in Latin America”is available now on our web page!
http://www.relaf.org/index_engl.html