The rapporteur on the Special Committee on Social-Educational Assistance used suggestions of related bodies to amend the government’s bill. New contributions can be made by March 9th.

The preliminary review by the Deputy Rita Camata (PMDB-ES), of the Bill 1627/07, proposed by the Executive Power, analyzed by the Special Committee of Social-Educational Assistance, creates, among other amendments to the original bill, medical assistance specialized in young offenders, and the evaluation of institutions and managers of that system, and, in addition to the right to intimate visits to married teenagers or those engaged in steady relationships, and also the creation of places for the professional qualification of those teenagers.

The government’s bill creates the National System of Social-Educational Assistance (Sinase), which regulates the social educational measures to be applied in the case of trespassing acts committed by minors.

The president of the Committee, Deputy Givaldo Carimbão (PSB-AL), announced that the review is open to new suggestions until March 9th. On the 11th, the final report will be presented, and, on March 18th, it is expected to be voted, to be forwarded to the House.

Ten years of debates
Rita Camata affirmed that her review reflects ten years of debates on how the regulation of the Children’s and Teenager’s Act (ECA), and the contributions from entities working with children and teenagers.

She said she had added to the Executive’s Bill some proposals which had been matured during all that time, but also innovations, such as the inclusion of the S System – Senai, Sesi and Sesc, among other entities of the interest of professional categories – in the education and rescue of young offenders.

The deputy stressed that social-educational measures should be thought as procedures in which the young people realize they committed a mistake, but which has also to offer solutions for the situation. “They are beings still undergoing a shaping procedure, to whom we should give the chance to develop in order for them to become complete adults, able to face life as any other”, she said.

Givaldo Carimbão affirmed that the review will bring a great contribution to society, since it faces issues challenging work with young offenders. He stressed the project of medical treatment for addicted teenagers.

The bill also provides for the assistance to pregnant girls. According to its rapporteur, cases in which those girls are already pregnant when they arrive at the institutions and lack specialized assistance are not rare.

Individualization
Among other amendments to the bill, there is the individualization of the assistance. Each teenager should have his/her own program, which should match the analysis of all his/her conditions, including family and development. The family is also thought of, in the project of a visits regime, which will encompass children of any age and the right to partners’ intimate visits.

The assistance by the S System raised the interest of representatives of bodies working with the youth. The rapporteur affirmed that, until its last version, they are studying the possibility to insert quotas for that assistance, which should be done together with the other students of those institutions.

The rapporteur also inserted new possibilities of loans from the National System of Social-Educational Assistance. The funds could come from the National Fund Against Drugs, the Fund for the Workers Support, and the National Fund for the Development of Education, among others.

Report - Vania Alves
Editing - Marcos Rossi
Translation – Positive Idiomas Ltda