Together, we can! Strengthening the capacity of multi-disciplinary teams within the Guatemalan child protection workforce

Buckner Guatemala & DCOF

From June 8-12, 2015, Buckner Guatemala, with support from the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) and the Guatemalan Court System, provided a series of two-day training sessions to multi-disciplinary teams from the court system.  Participants included social workers, pedagogues and psychologists from within the child and family courts.  

The two modules, jointly developed by Buckner Guatemala’s “Semillas de Esperanza” (Fostering Hope Guatemala) project and the Guatemalan School of Judicial Studies were titled: Values, Knowledge and Interpersonal Skills for Child Protection and Alternative Care. Jini Roby and Kelley Bunkers contributed to the development of the modules in a participatory process that was informed and reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team of experts representing Guatemalan child welfare government bodies, academic institutions and representatives from child-focused organizations.

In May 2015, the training modules were officially endorsed by the Guatemala School of Judicial Studies (GSJS) in a formal ceremony attended by government representatives from Guatemala and the United States.  The training will be mandatory pre-service training for all new social workers, pedagogues and psychologists and required in-service training for existing staff of multi-disciplinary teams. The GSJS will offer the training utilizing the trainer’s guide developed together with the student manual.

The two sessions of the two-day training included more than 80 professionals, and provided an opportunity to highlight the important role of multi-disciplinary teams (i.e., social workers, psychologists and pedagogues) within the Guatemalan child protection system in general and the court system specifically.  The training was officially launched by Fostering Hope Guatemala a Project of Buckner and the Guatemalan Judicial System and included key note speeches from the Chilean Ambassador to Guatemala, Ambassador Domingo Namuncura. The participation of Ambassador Namuncura was particularly relevant given that he is a trained social worker and has contributed significant work in human rights related efforts within Chile. The presentations by guest speakers and the content of the two training modules focused on the values and skills of the multi-disciplinary team including the important role of coordination between the legal and the psychosocial sectors in providing a holistic response to children.  Interesting real life examples from Chile and Guatemala illustrated how the child protection system continues to be strengthened. Small group activities and question and answer sessions provided useful opportunities to reflect and discuss the training content. 

The module on alternative care proved to be especially interesting to training participants given the important role that multi-disciplinary teams have in the assessment, referral, case management and follow up procedures involved in the decision making process of alternative care. Participants were particularly interested in learning more about the evidence base related to both residential and family based care. Very few participants were familiar with the Guidelines on Alternative Care of Children so the information provide was especially relevant. Participants suggested that Guatemala develop its own National Guidelines for Alternative Care to ensure that they were contextually appropriate and informed by real life experiences of children and families.  Training participants engaged in lively discussions around this issue and came up with concrete ideas about how they could take the information learned in the training and incorporate it into their daily work. Examples included sharing information on the detrimental effects of residential care on children’s development with judges to help influence and inform their decisions related to alternative care. Participants also stressed the need to improve linkages with local service providers to strengthen community based family strengthening services that aim to prevent separation and eventual placement in residential care.