Prevent mexican children from living in the street

* The names of the members of the Velazquez family were changed to protect their identity.

All families function differently and there is no family better than another. Throughout the support given to families who have children at risk of living on the street, Fundación Pro Niños de la Calle (Pro Niños) has seen how parents, caregivers and children have developed skills to change the way they relate and  support each other in times of crisis.

This year three of the families we are working with in Pro Niños will be graduating, which means they have been able to acquire knowledge and put into place factors that now allow them to protect their children from situations that put them at risk of living on the street. This graduation is a way of recognizing the effort and participation of the families, who despite the situations of exclusion and / or violence they face, have improved their living conditions.

In this brief summary, is the story of the Velazquez family, one of the families that will be graduating and symbolize strength and will.

In 2012 we met Felix* Velázquez, who at the time was 17 years old. He had serious problems with drugs and lived on the street. Felix began attending our Day Center and liked the activities so much that he invited his younger brother: Joaquin*.

Joaquin was 13 and no longer wanted to go to school; he had already left junior high school to work. That was how the initial support began first with Felix and Joaquin, and then we made contact with the rest of the family: his sister Nancy* and their mother, Laura*.

The Velazquez family comes from an indigenous community in the state of Oaxaca and they came to Mexico City in search of opportunities to improve their living conditions, but the only alternative at that time for Laura and her children was to live on the street. With work and time they managed to get a room to live in. It was a very difficult situation, without identity papers and a violent environment that excluded them. For Laura the only priority was to get a job, because she thought her children were old enough to know what they were doing and how to manage.

From the comprehensive work Pro Niños started doing with each member of the Velazquez family, family coexistence was cultivated and the participation of Laura in the care of her children began to detonate changes that have reduced the risk of Nancy or Joaquin leaving home as did their brother Felix, who unfortunately is still on the street.

Joaquin decided to go back to junior high school and has now graduated. His sister Nancy is still in school and is very motivated to continue studying. Laura works as a cook and is determined to continue moving forward with her children to face the difficulties of everyday life, but now they use their own strengths and the support networks that they have managed to initiate with Pro Niños and its community. 

Links:

• Fundacion Pro Ninos de la Calle web site

It is an honor to inform you of the inauguration of a new space for family support. It is a safe and friendly place that allows us to provide educational-therapeutic support to mothers, parents and/or caregivers, as well as children and adolescents aged 8 to 17 who face various risk situations, such as dropping out of school, use or abuse of psychoactive substances, lack of attention and care, lack of cultural, sporting and recreational alternatives while living in violent environments.

The inauguration of this type of area allows Pro Ninos to have the settings to provide personalized attention to each family - according to their particular needs and characteristics - through group and individual sessions and supplement the periodic visits done in their homes.

The new space in the Family Care Program is comprised of four conference rooms that allow us to work simultaneously with members of the families; while in another room mothers take a reflective workshop and a Game Room where younger children have a safe place to play.

One of the strategies of the Family Care Program is precisely to use playing as a way for children to interact with each other and discover the world in an environment of trust, while facilitating bonding with their parents or caregivers. Playing also allows us to understand how family members relate to each other and recognize which behaviors or patterns of behavior need to be worked on.

In this space ProNinos also holds different workshops once a month with playful and reflective dynamics, where families are actively involved, relating to each other, sharing their experiences and forming a support network that encourages safe environments for children.

We are currently working with 50 young boys, girls and adolescents - as well as with 26 fathers, mothers and caregivers of 20 families, facilitating alternatives to enable them to exercise their rights, improve their living conditions and offer a better future for their children, one where living on the street would not be a risk or an option for them.

Links:

• http://www.proninosdelacalle.org.mx/#1