AA
Criança – defending the rights of the child
It is estimated that up to 12,000 children are on the
streets of São Paulo every day, with 4-5000 living
there permanently.
AA Criança runs a number of projects in the city,
working directly with street children, and aiming to give
them the opportunity to escape life on the streets and to re-build their trust in adults.
ABC provides support for the two main projects: the CEDECA
(Centre for the Defence of the Rights of a Child and Adolescent) and CASA 20, offering a drop-in centre, providing
children with a safe place to go during the day, washing
facilities and a secure place to leave their possessions.
| Region: |
São Paolo |
| Type of Work: |
Basic needs; education; social assistance;
defence of rights |
| No of children: |
300 per year |
| Other beneficiaries: |
Over 1000, including at-risk families |
| Age range: |
5-18 (or 21) years, boys and girls |
| Founded: |
1992 |
'Only the people from AA Criança come to
spend time with us, stay close to us, defend us,
give hope to us, and when they are here we are not
afraid. They take us to the doctor, they play games
with us, offer us the opportunity to have fun, they
help us to make the documents we need to be considered
'someone'.
But most of all they offer
a light to us, a pathway leading away from street
life, a new beginning. They say that we are not
delinquents or criminals and they call us by our
names. For them we are not invisible." Alex,
15 years old |
provision of basic needs and personal development
CASA 20 provides:
- Access to medical assistance
- Washing facilities for children and their clothes
- Cooked meals
- Non-formal educational workshops, including hygiene,
cooking, arts
- Street duty – staff reaching out to street
children directly
- Discussions with children about returning to their
families; helping them to find specialist shelter
should this be inadvisable
- Emphasis on the need to begin or continue education
and schooling
- Positive relationships between adults and children
social support and legal
assistance
The CEDECA offers:
- Interdisciplinary team of staff (‘educators’)
offering legal services, psychological care, social
and educational services and assistance
- Visits at Juvenile Detention Centres
- Home visits to at-risk families
|
