Fernando Camacho Servin
Newspaper La Jornada
Monday, January 17, 2022, p. eleven
When Mrs. Luz Corona’s son fell ill with the flu in the United States, the only thing he needed to get better was someone to bring him a bowl of soup. When they finally had that simple gesture of humanity with the boy, she made it her mission to return him to whoever had the same need for help in Mexico.
Although she had already come a long way in raising awareness in support groups for migrants arriving in the north of the country, her son’s experience was one of the experiences that encouraged her to open her home to children and adolescents who require the support of a family by being estranged from their biological parents.
Luz is one of the participants in the schemes of host families
, launched recently by the civil organization Juconi, the United Nations Refugee Agency (Acnur) and the national DIF, whose aim is to find family groups willing to temporarily receive foreign children and adolescents, many of whom have fled of his country to save his life.
Originally from Puebla, the woman was encouraged to do the paperwork, the training, the informative talks, the psychological tests and other procedures so that with her husband and children they would be considered a suitable family
to receive a small refugee, in a process that took almost a year.
In interview with the day, says that the first boy he welcomed He was a resilient boy, who was able to adapt easily and who in a month was doing open high school at the same school as my son.
. As soon as he was alone with her and her husband, the young man asked if he could tell them mother
Y father
.
The second, on the other hand, has been a different challenge. With a more temperamental character, coming from a dysfunctional family environment, the young man learns to take advantage of opportunities that he had never had before and to deal with the pressure of assuming responsibilities.
Mónica Bucio, director of institutional development at Juconi, explains that foster family schemes have been considered for more than 30 years as an alternative to residential care in shelters and foster homes for minors who are far from their biological family.
He says that there are studies according to which each month of institutionalization for a child under 2 years of age can generate a developmental delay of up to three months
, so since 2018 Juconi made the decision to no longer provide care for children in its shelters and fully promote the temporary foster care model in voluntary families.
The program launched a few months ago jointly with the UNHCR and the DIF is designed in particular for minors of foreign origin who already have the legal status of refugees in Mexico, who remain separated from their parents for various reasons and are generally waiting for that some kind of family reunification takes place.
People interested in participating in this program must first undergo a certification process, home visits, tests and interviews that last several months, and although a single profile of the volunteers is not sought, it is ensured that they have a situation of economic stability. and emotional to give security, time and positive relationships to the minors they are going to receive.
(You can read the full version of this text in the web page of the day).
