Chilean National Policy for Children: Restricted Rights

Abstract

Abstract The research studies tensions between socio-demographic profile in most complex children using social services in Chile and the programmatic offer these services provide, considering the underlying new Children National Policy ruling from 1999. Material and Methods: users’ statistical records from 2007 to 20008 coming from selected programs where analyzed using descriptive and comparative statistical techniques. Results: We set trends by age, sex, education, and responsible adult, region of origin, intake causes and reentry numbers. We found younger and more feminine population, with less educational lag and living in the same region where the service operates in those programs not executed directly by the state; a population composed mainly by adolescents, males, from different regions to the region where the program runs and with additional intake causes that increase complexity, in programs run directly by the state. Discussion: The analysis reveals a differential distribution of the population using social services for children in various programs studied, higher levels of complexity found in programs run directly by the state, even when they are defined as temporary and non specialized, which shows a tension and inconsistency with the guiding principles of the new children policy in Chile, limiting full rights guarantee.