Weren't you supposed to be doing an internship in Brazil?

Why, yes. With youth in trouble with the law.

So, it is a good point that perhaps I should start writing about it.

PART I.

First though, we have to travel back to 1990, when the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente [Statute of the Child and Adolescent] came into existence in Brazil, which essentially gave specific rights to children and adolescents, based on their "condition as persons in development," including their absolute right to "life, health, nourishment/food, education, sports, leisure, professionalization, culture, dignity, respect, liberty and living with family and community." This Statue is very important and a big deal. So much so that often when I have told Brazilians about my internship, their first question is, "Have you read the Statute?" Indeed, I was gifted a copy of the statute not long after my arrival, and my reading of it became the beginning of my internship.

The Statute also created the structure for a juvenile justice system that would be rehabilitative in nature and not punish adolescents in trouble with the law in the same manner as adults. Unlike in the United States where children accused of heinous crimes can be transferred to the adult system, tried as adults and made subject to the death penalty, this can't occur in Brazil. (Brazil also does not have the death penalty.) Of course, what's written in statute is not always what occurs in reality, and there are opponents of this system, but I'm not going to get into that in this particular post.

Suffice it to say that it is always a challenge, in any country, to live up to its ideals. Implementing and maintaining a system of juvenile justice that aims to rehabilitate children and improve their lives is a huge undertaking. However, the system here appears to recognize that there are many structural issues (poverty and domestic violence to name a couple) that are integral parts of why children and adolescents may become involved in illicit activities in the first place.

Essentially when a kid gets caught committing a crime they will be entered into the juvenile justice system. Depending on the severity of the act (and of course, whether or not they actually committed it), they will often be given medidas socioeducativas (socio-educational measures) usually consisting of community service, sometimes combined with a form of probation (as I understand it). This service will usually performed over a period of six months usually consisting of four hours a week. However, there is an entire system, run by social workers, set up to help these youth with this as well as other needs they may have. Additionally, depending on their needs these kids may also get drug treatment or psychological evaluations, etc. So, kids aren't just told to go volunteer at any random place. They are assigned to a location near where they live, with social workers, and from there, they will complete their time. I am definitely simplifying this, but I just want to get the gyst of it across.

And it is with this social service system that I will be interning here in Porto Alegre. It operates underneath a larger social service umbrella agency and has eight offices located throughout the city (it's a big city). A week ago Friday,  I went to the central office for a meeting with two of the coordinators. I was thrilled that I could walk there (it took about 25 minutes), thrilled that I managed to both find the place without getting lost and relieved to arrive on time, albeit a little out of breath. This is a picture (below) of the river dividing the road where the central office is located. 

And so, despite the fact that the coordinators had a slightly different understanding of my internship (they thought I was there to do research and that I would be there much longer than four months), they were incredibly gracious, welcoming and open to changing their game plan to meet my learning needs. Master's level Social Work students in Brazil all do research. However, for those of us studying Social Work in the United States, the emphasis is on gaining experience in the field. It was decided that I would spend the following week in the central office gaining a bigger picture perspective of the work that they do and from there I would be assigned to one of their other locations to begin working directly with youth in trouble with the law.