No doubt this 2019 will be a year of turning in social matters. It set out to give important signals around the agreement for children, especially in relation to the urgent need to reform the protection system and promote preventive policies anchored in a quality and evidenced supply. However, despite some progress, significant deficits remain in the promotion of family reunification models that replace the residential system, as well as other key aspects such as access to education and health.
Among the fundamentals is a response with a sense of urgency and which obviously goes in line with prioritizing children, defining a catalogue of rights and mechanisms of enforceability, administrative power and specialized institutionality, which are incorporated into the projects of the “System of Guarantees of Children’s Rights” and the “Protection System”, the latter that will replace Sename.
On the other hand, this year the results of the count in which no less children and adolescents who are in “street situation” were released, which as explained is not comparable to the cadastre and may well underestimate the actual amount. The crude report of the Ministry of Social Development and Family materialized the “count”, but did not trigger a clear response regarding the offer available for each of them and in particular for those who were in obvious serious violation, such as pregnant girls or consumer children. In addition, Civil Society organizations promoted the search for missing children, met thousands of raw search warrants and asymmetrical reality in search results for children in the Sename system, despite being at the highest risk of exploitation and infringement, but with a dramatic drop in search effectiveness.
It is necessary to have a programmatic offer with evidence that is focused on prevention, that decreases risk factors in order to avoid the development of problematic behaviors, which undoubtedly have an impact on the violation of the rights of our children and adolescents. Therefore, the work promoted by Senda to have a specialized offer in parental programs, as well as the Lazos system, which this year expanded its coverage to regions and the implementation of the preventive model “Choose to Live Without Drugs”, inspired by the Icelandic model, is valued.
Among the positive elements, during 2019, is the role of the new institutionality of children, on the one hand the Ombudsman’s Office that has played a significant role in protecting against child infringements and in particular in the midst of social movements, as well as the Undersecretariat for Children, which has led the pilot of the Local Offices that should be a fundamental part of the Comprehensive Protection System, both institutions must be consolidating in coverage, in supply and in supply capacity to make their actions a key pillar in Children’s policies.
Also, it is worth mentioning the role of “My Lawyer” program to improve the standards of legal representation of children and young people, despite the need to expand its scope and independence, being able to guarantee effective representation, even against the State, that many times is the main violation of rights, but that, under the dependence of the Ministry of Justice, that autonomy is eventually compromised.
However, in view of what has been the last few months, where the normal development of school and social activities has been affected, it is urgent to raise as a priority the deinstitutionalization of children from the Protection System, through an offer that guarantees the effective restitution of the right to live as a family. Strengthen the preventive offer, especially with tools for parents, focus on educational reintegration and early warning to school dropout, have a dedicated offer and coverage for the prevention of criminal involvement among others. We hope that the 2020 Children will be definitively settled in the priorities of the Social Agenda, it does not make sense to design a fairer and more inclusive Society, if we do not take part in the children of the construction of the country that tomorrow will have to lead and live together.
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