VivAmor

Project Managers: Jon Coerver Jr, Vilma Coerver

A decade or more ago, Dr. Siro Darlan – then the incumbent judge of the main Juvenile Court of Rio de Janeiro – founded Escola de Pais (School for Parents). Parents from low-income backgrounds participate in a series of weekly workshops presented by specialists in fields of education, legal rights and responsibilities of parents, sexuality, parenting, drug abuse, domestic violence, etc. The Escola de Pais depends on the assistance of  non-profit association VivAmor, who work with 50 families each semester.

VivAmor handles the workshop on spirituality and its place in the realm of parenting.

As part of the program, VivAmor volunteers take the preteen children of these parents on excursions to places they might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience: Rio’s Botanical Gardens, Sugarloaf, the Cristo, Bank of Brazil’s well known cultural center, and so forth. These cultural experiences allow the children to broaden their horizons as well as interact with others, including technicians from the Minor’s Court. They work with Court Commissioners, psychologists, teachers and technicians from the Juvenile Courts to give continuity to the project.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil