Legal advice programme
Through June and July, the legal advice program has continued providing support to people on low incomes in and around Estelí who would otherwise be unable to get legal advice and help. Since June, project worker Dora Aráuz has helped two women needing help with divorce cases and three cases of women seeking maintenance for their children from the children's fathers. Four families have received assistance with administrative problems relating to the legal status of children. Dora has also helped three families in criminal cases requiring mediation with the local police. The program also provides support to inmates of the local penitentiary which holds prisoners from as far afield as Ocotal and Somoto, two towns close to the border with Honduras in the far north of Nicaragua. Dora has followed up two cases of prisoners that required a lawyer to seek administrative measures in Ocotal to secure their release and likewise two similar cases in Somoto. In addition to his casework, Dora also supports the social work programme by organizing workshops on gender, self-esteem and personal development in the local penitentiary. The legal programme also works closely with the preventive health care programme to identify potential problems or difficulties that families may have in the communities served by the health programme's work monitoring the health of local children.