KIDS Support Groups in Brazil

In these first months of the year, the team of KIDS Support Groups of Cruz Azul has developed its work. Many trainings and visits took place to start new groups in other regions of Brazil. In addition, advice was given to the network of existing Support Groups for children and Teens and social institutions. New leaders and volunteers were trained in partnership with social projects that support vulnerable children. Additionally, guidance meetings for parents of children participating in the KIDS Support Groups have also taken place with the themes “parenting styles” and “digital addiction”. Through the targeted training of KIDS group leaders, the Blue Cross Brazil also provides family members with the necessary support and advice.

KIDS support groups are held under different themes. The aim is to address the children in a creative way and to educate them about important issues. Support groups on topics such as "say not to bad choices" or "control of emotion" were well attended in the recent months. 

A staff member from Cruz Azul in Brazil is a Jiu-Jitsu fighter and offered training session for children. This attempts to illustrate prevention through creative themes.The course was held under the motto "Balance". 

Thank you for helping us to continue to run and develop various KIDS Support Groups throughout Brazil. Without your financial support, the work would not be possible. Thank you very much!

In recent months, the team of KIDS support Brazil have dedicated themselves to visits and prevention actions with children and adolescents, in different cities, especially in the states of Santa Catarina and Parana. The actions are done with games and questions that lead to reflection on the value of life. 

In Santa Catarina, they carried out a prevention action in celebration of Children’s Day, with children in socially vulnerable situations participating in a social entity. The team enables the children to have fun. Funny role-playing games brought a smile to the children's faces.

To continue this work, they have different training courses for new leaders and many online meetings. In October alone, 12 people were participating in Santa Catarina. They were also held prevention courses for social educators who work in shelters for children who are deprived of family power due to violence and other vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the Cruz Azul team find creative ways to raise funds. In November, they organized a sale of hamburgers. The action was fully successful, they sold 700 hamburgers to raise funds and get to talk to many people about the project. 

KIDS support groups give children who are affected by their parents’ substance abuse a place to turn. Thank you for making this possible! We are very grateful for everything you give to change the lives of many children in need.

Children are one of the most vulnerable group of people when it comes to addiction issues because they are directly affected when their parents consume. KIDS Support Groups are therefore a safe space for children where they can talk with others and get support individually. When one parent is suffering from addiction, the whole family is affected by the harm it causes, which is why the KIDS support groups are such an indispensable development to the work of the Blue Cross in Brazil.

There are various ways to speak with children. In Jaraguá, they held a meeting in the “cinema and debate” format with the theme family. Formats like these allow children to speak about their experiences and struggles at home. Other creative forms of connecting with children are activities and games related to drug prevention with themes like “you are special”.

There are meetings not only with children, but also with teenagers. The Blue Cross in Brazil realized a group meeting about the theme “friendship and decisions”. These regular meetings for teens provide positive guidance during a critical time in one's life when behavior and decision making are easily influenced. Furthermore, the teenagers learn to talk with peers who live in similar environments. They have the possibility to create a network of people to rely on and trust. Recording radio programs about prevention or publishing prevention magazines and comics are creative ways of reaching young people too.

In the last few months, the employees have dedicated themselves to carrying out training for new volunteers, visits, trips and activities related to drug prevention. They made trainings with indigenous people where they distinguish the work of the KIDS Support Group. They had the opportunity to organize meetings with children belonging to various ethnic groups in different indigenous villages with the theme “Saying no to bad choices”. They also spoke with the children teachers who committed to applying the prevention material weekly at school. Talking about addiction and its related harm in local schools is essential to spread awareness.                                                                                             

Thanks to your support in Brazil this work is creating better environments for children and having positive effects in their future life! The work of KIDS Support Groups in Brazil impacted many lives in the past and will change the lives of many more in the future. Thank you for being a part of our vision to change the world for the better!

"I'm Evelyn and I've been going to PEAL in Pomerode for a few years. One of the activities that take place here once a week is the KIDS Support Group. Last year we learned a lot about the topic sexual abuse. One of the stories was Tartanina. This story helped me a lot to understand and free myself from a weight I carried in my heart. I learned how to protect myself and how to help other girls protect themselves too. Another lesson that was marked is that there are secrets I shouldn't keep from my family and when something makes me feel bad I need to tell a trusted adult who can help me. This time helped me to heal a wound I had."

Stories are a great tool to talk about important, but sometimes difficult topics with children in a way they can comprehend. Sexual abuse is one of the topics adressed in the KIDS Support Groups. Other topics are for example identity and integration, emotions, social skills, family, saying no or alcohol and drug use.

Each meeting is dedicated to one of these topics. Every meeting starts with a greeting round where every child can say how their week was. As a teaching method we usually use emojis. Each child can pick an emoji to show how they feel about their week. After this greeting round there is always time to play with the kids, to build relationships and just spend time togehter. Then one of the topics gets adressed by the staff. After the input, most importantly probably, the kids get to apply the topic in order to internalize the message. We usually play music together, do manual work, draw something or play theater. This practical part is always a highlight, because the kids enjoy it a lot. 

KIDS support groups are a safe place for vulnerable children. In the name of Evelyn and many other kids we thank you for making this possible! Thank you for everything you give.

After over two years of Covid-19 restrictions, finally most of the group activities were allowed to take place again. Therefore the two project coordinators, Julia and Rafael visited a lot of groups and taught new leaders how to start new Kids Support Groups in Brazil.  

Kids Support Groups mostly aim to help children of alcoholics. Besides supporting the kids, it is also really important to raise community awareness about the consequenses of alcohol and other drugs. In order to raise awareness it is crucial to partner with different organisations. We are really excited to newly partner with churches all over Brazil. In January, we held the first online conference with the topic "Church and Drug Prevention" for different church leaders. We are convinced that it makes a huge difference if every person, every organisation and therefore also churches takes on their responsibility and learns how to stop alcohol and drug harm. Another way how the Kids Support Groups raise awareness, is by producing weekly radio sessions. The radio sessions are a great tool to reach the wider community and bring this important topic to the table. 

Another crucial aspect about every project are finances. Since the Kids Support Groups are part of the Blue Cross Brazil, they took part in a fundraising activity from Blue Cross Brazil. They sold burgers to raise money for their projects. It was a great day, with lots of fun to cook and sell burgers. And besides raising money it was a great oppurtunity to explain to people the work of Blue Cross Brazil.

Since the Kids Support Groups depend on donations, we warmly encourage you to support us. Thank you so much for everything you give. You make a huge difference!