Field report: Working with biological families at La Paz, Bolivia

Taking Joint Responsibility

A report from the Village Director, José Pereyra, at the SOS Children's Village La Paz, Bolivia: The programme for strengthening the biological families children in SOS Children’s Villages in La Paz, Bolivia.

When particular circumstances result in children losing the protection of their families, SOS Children ensures that they are given a loving home in a new family (an SOS Children’s Villages family). Often the biological family fades into the background when it cannot protect and care for its children, and children from such families are usually referred to as “children who have lost their family”. Yet in practice many children at SOS Children’s Villages still have a nuclear family or an extended family, so we have to work with their biological families. It is important not only to encourage an ongoing relationship between children and their biological families, but also to strengthen the biological family so that it can be a real support to children.

Responsibility for the child’s overall development should be carried jointly by the SOS Children’s Villages family and the biological family.

The relationship between children and their biological families
The relationship between children that live in SOS families and their biological families is not always perfect. So it is often the case, for instance, that in spite of having a close relationship with the children, biological families do not manage to take on joint responsibility for their overall development. This is frequently due to financial or emotional reasons.

There is no doubt that these families are themselves victims of the very factors which have led to the destruction and/or malfunctioning of family life, the impact of which has manifested itself most obviously on the children.

Because of their innocent way of perceiving reality children want their families to be protected and cared for, and they wish that someone or something could have prevented their family from breaking up. Even children who have suffered abuse in their own families experience this feeling. This means that we are often faced with children and young people whose behaviour is characterised by rebellion and who want to be able to live with their families again.

Why is it so important to strengthen the children’s biological families?
SOS Children holds the view that every child has the right to grow up protected and cared for in a family, and the biological family is the best place for this in an ideal situation, as long as the child’s welfare is guaranteed. Experience tells us that children’s important relationships to their biological and extended family can easily be ruined if care in a facility lasts a long time. Orphaned and institutionalised children suffer a loss of family identity and of the sense of belonging to a community. They are at risk of losing networks which could give them support in the future and are at a disadvantage compared to children who live in and are able to develop in their biological families and their community.

Aims and objectives

Strengthening the children’s biological families is not seen as an aim in itself: moreover, it is less about being a strategy, and far more about being a right. This means recognising and supporting the biological family as an important active partner in the holistic development of the child. This very factor makes a qualitative difference in the development of any given child.

We are concerned with strengthening the families’ abilities (primarily those of parents, siblings, aunts and uncles) to offer protection for their children. Yet this should not mean that the families have to take on complete responsibility for the children (health, nutrition, clothing, etc). It mainly means that the families show an interest in the lives and future of their children and that the children feel the affection of their families. In this way the children and young people can be helped to achieve the goals that they have set themselves. They should see how new opportunities and dimensions open up in their relationship with their families. In a best case scenario the children and young people can count on the support of “both families” - their SOS family and their biological family.

This gives children and young people the chance to realise their right to reintegrate into their biological families. It does not necessarily mean that they live with their biological families, as circumstances do not always allow this, but rather that they can create a positive bond even though they no longer live together. This reintegration has tangible, positive effects in terms of re-establishing the children’s identity. Equally, they have better opportunities to build their own networks, ensuring improved social development as a result. The state and society are also gradually beginning to recognise the importance of biological families for children’s development.

Strategies and activities for strengthening biological families
There are no programmes at national level in Bolivia that deal with effective care for families that have broken up or lost a family member. Our pilot project includes strategies and initiatives that are tailored to the needs of the biological families of children at the SOS Children’s Village La Paz.

Children have roots not just in their respective biological families. There are other reference points, social or cultural in nature for instance, which are determining factors in children’s identity formation and relationship building, even though they have not yet had a direct effect on the children. In such cases we talk about the biological family, which includes not just parents and siblings, but also other relatives such as grandparents.

Family strengthening begins with the holistic analysis of the biological family. Attention is focused primarily on the existing personal relationships in this process. Families should be encouraged to reflect on their importance to the overall development of family members (especially the children).

We enter into partnerships with other non-governmental and governmental organisations which are dedicated particularly to women’s welfare, fighting poverty, etc. This means that the efforts of SOS Children and other organisations are pooled in order to achieve the overall goal of strengthening the biological families of children at SOS Children’s Villages. Involving the communities in which the biological families live, with the aim of supporting and motivating them, is an important strategy with great potential, especially in the rural areas.

As soon as the families’ skills are strengthened, they are integrated into the next phase in the children’s life plan. With the agreement of SOS Children, this leads to the families taking on clear responsibility for the development of their children.

The family strengthening work as a whole results in interaction between the children, the SOS families and the biological families, and provides a clearer perspective for all those involved.