Family strengthening programmes in Latin America 

The support given goes far beyond day-to-day care; it is extended to realising the rights of the child and helping families and communities become self-reliant.

On the occasion of the International Family Day, SOS Children's Villages presents the latest developments of family strengthening as implemented in Latin America.

Direct help for children

Children need special care for their health and well-being. In order to tackle the problems linked with poverty and exclusion - as well as neglect and inadequate care methods that are factors placing children at risk - SOS Children's Villages has initiated a wide range of services to protect children and provide them with development opportunities.

Medical staff from the SOS Social Centre (or approved external healthcare providers) regularly check the weight and height of all children participating in family strengthening programmes. SOS Children's Villages also provides low cost medical and dental treatments. Those children who need special check-ups or treatments that cannot be carried out at the SOS Social Centres are seen by external professional services or partner institutions.

Following the model of joint responsibility, the family (especially the mother) is the key to keeping children healthy. Mothers are trained on how to recognise, identify, prevent and treat different illnesses. Nutritional cooking plays a major role, especially for those who are malnourished.

SOS Children' Villages family strengthening programmes offer many opportunities to maximise children's physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social development. Results show that children who have taken part in abandonment-prevention programmes know more, are open to continued learning, have good study habits, are independent and assume responsibility for their personal improvement.

Empowering mothers

In Latin America, many women who come to the SOS Social Centres are seeking a day care facility for their children while the women go out to work. Others are in a desperate situation and just trying to survive. SOS Social Centres give priority to female heads of family who are in a vulnerable situation. SOS Social Centres offer training in personal development to improve mothers' self-esteem and to develop their social skills.

Mothers learn about women's rights, strategies for women to meet and support each other, and gender equity issues. They also receive training in domestic violence, health policies for women, sexual and reproductive health rights, safe maternity and childcare. The women who participate in trainings at the SOS Social Centre are required to commit themselves to taking advantage of the daily support to improve their quality of life.

One of the activities in great demand is the literacy programme. There are classrooms or self-study programmes in different SOS Social Centres, some of them organised with the support and co-operation of other organisations. The educational level reached by women determines their access to further developmental steps, such as employment skills training. Generally, the women are able to apply what they have learnt; some succeed in supplementing their regular income.

Women with concrete proposals for independent enterprises can request interest-free loans from SOS Social Centres with convenient instalment payments. In some cases the family strengthening programmes coordinate the backing of private or family businesses. As a result, many women - single or with a partner - have taken advantage of these micro-credits to start up small businesses and to reach greater work stability.

Two positive collateral benefits of family strengthening programmes are that empowered women generally want to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with others in their SOS Social Centre, or they organise their own support circles and carry on, even after having left the programmes.

Servicing families

Families in similar economic or social situations that desire to join together and improve their situations are encouraged to establish a family committee. The SOS Social Centre supports them by providing low-cost services to children, mothers, families and to the entire family committee. However, the participants have to commit themselves, to trust in their abilities and to become their own advocates.

Family committees are organised groups of parents who participate in self-support programmes. A total of 15 to 35 families can decide to support each other voluntarily to satisfy their needs and solve problems they face in daily life. Their representatives or leaders can benefit from trainings at the SOS Social Centre with facilitators who provide support in specific areas (e.g., skills, leadership). Each family committee carries out its activities independently; and if necessary, with logistic or administrative support from the SOS Social Centre.

Experiences have shown that within a family committee the children and women - who are the main actors of the participating families - can improve their knowledge about individual rights. They understand each other as individuals and citizens. A new type of family relationship is set up, characterised by the search for common well-being. This in turn motivates them to support each other whenever needed. This mutual support is illustrated in the following example: when official documents are required for individuals to be able to exercise their rights as citizens, the family committee gives advice on how to approach local authorities to obtain birth certificates, ID cards, marriage certificates.

The families also learn different ways of relating to each other, which helps them to solve conflicts through assertive communication. They are then able to deal with issues such as conflict management, fair treatment, the causes and consequences of child abandonment and parents' responsibilities.

Help through local communities

To provide better care for children whilst their parents are at work, family committees in Latin America usually set up community homes. These are family houses where around 10 to 15 children below the age of nine can be cared for on a daily basis. The houses or homes generally consist of two main rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. Community homes provide a safe environment for proper care of children.

Parents are members of a family committee that decides which mothers will be trained to [exclusively] look after the children in the community homes. The family committee defines the different tasks: some mothers are in charge of the food and health of the children, while others are responsible for age-appropriate educational activities for the children. The family committee supervises these activities, and involves other family members as much as possible.

All of these developments require a continued and qualified support from SOS Social Centres. Thus, the SOS staffs specialise in paediatrics, dentistry, psychology, pedagogy, nutrition and cooking, and other subjects related to child care. They are trained to share their knowledge and to pay special attention to those suffering physically, psychologically or emotionally.

SOS Children's Villages' commitment to ensuring long-term care for children and young people is consistent with the policies of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Millennium Development Goals. These policies help the most vulnerable populations in terms of gender equity, education and health. SOS Children's Villages currently provides support to families affected by HIV/AIDS in southern Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia.

A diversified but unified community can work on reinforcing the strengths and developing new skills and abilities of its members, resolving their problems and improving their quality of life. SOS Children's Villages is committed to supporting community organisations that help local families become self-reliant and guarantee the well-being of family members, especially vulnerable children.