Our objectives

RELAF (Latin American Foster Care Network, for the Right to community and family- based care for children and adolescents) promotes and supports the strategies of governmental and non-governmental organizations for the restoration of such a right, since it considers the lack of policies with relation to this issue to represent a kind of social, political and institutional violence that affects thousands of children and adolescents in Latin America.

The current objective of the RELAF project is to create and strengthen the active network of regional stakeholders in order to contribute to the de-institutionalization processes of children and adolescents and to the prevention of the separation of origin families and their communities. Furthermore, it promotes family-based care in Latin America to achieve the implementation of the Right to Community and Family- Based Care.

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RELAF articulates with Latin American governments and NGOs by addressing requests for technical cooperation, training, supervision of projects, to name a few, as well as carrying out tasks to have a bearing on national policy decisions with relation to the implementation of the right to community and family- based care. It works in favor of practice reviews and achieving an improvement in the public, political and legal frameworks to establish a Human Rights approach in concrete practices.

RELAF also strengthens the Network as the regional reference centre in the field, via enhancement of the website, the informative quarterly bulletin and other publications. This has the means to mobilize and facilitate the participation of regional actors who are committed to the establishment of Latin American responses to our own issues.

At a regional level, it cooperates with Iniciativa Niñ@Sur in the framework of the Meeting of High Authorities on Human Rights of MERCOSUR (www.niniosur.org), as well as with UNICEF TACRO, the Office of SOS Children’s Villages Continental and other regional allies like Redlamyc.

At a global level, it is part of the Working Group on Children without Parental Care of the NGO Group for the CRC, based in Geneva, Switzerland. RELAF participates actively, contributing to the global strategies of incidence from a Latin American point of view.

It also maintains a cooperation agreement with CHI, Child Help Line International and ISS International Social Service as well as interacting with the Hague Conference on Private International Law and UNICEF Better Care Network.

RELAF annually plans its activities in the framework of its strategic plan for 2008-2013. A working team based in Buenos Aires is in charge of the planning and management of the project and it is advised by two execution and decision-making bodies: the Advising Commission, made up of Argentine specialists and the Latin American Council, made up of Latin American specialists. Their members are authorities of organizations and renowned professionals who act as referents of foster families.

Our resources come both from an international cooperation with the Dutch organization SKN and the International Social Service as well as the cooperation of organizations based in Latin American for the execution of specific actions, such as UNICEF TACRO and the government of Brazil.

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All   the actions of RELAF are aimed at benefiting children, adolescents,   families, communities, professionals, carers, researchers, staff of institutions, government employees (of the Executive branch, the Legislative branch and the Judicial branch) and authorities, policy-makers, field workers, trainers, consultants, teachers, social workers and mental health workers, among others. The scope of its actions can be found throughout South America, Central America, the Islands of the Caribbean and Mexico.

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