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Meaningful Participation of Children in Child Protection Programs: A Path to Break Cycles of Abuse in Chile

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Vol. 11 No. 2 (2025): julio 2025 - noviembre 2025
https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-6296.2025.80143
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Abstract

In recent years, the right to participation of children and adolescents has gained greater relevance, especially after the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the promulgation of the Law of Guarantees and Comprehensive Protection of Children (2022) in Chile. However, children and adolescents in protection contexts continue to be excluded from processes that affect them, due to tutelary and adult-centric visions that conceive them as vulnerable and incapable of actively participating. This research analyzes the integration of the participation of children and adolescents in protection programs of the Ciudad del Niño Foundation, exploring the practices implemented and their relationship with the current regulatory frameworks through interviews and focus groups with professionals from different organizational levels. As results, barriers and facilitators for its application were identified, as well as that participation is recognized as a central value, but it lacks clear operational mechanisms, limiting its effective implementation as a consequence of the presence of an adult-centric view, the rigidity of protocols and the lack of decision-making spaces restrict the exercise of this right, as well as practices with the potential to strengthen autonomy, well-being and the interruption of cycles of abuse.

Keywords:

meaningful participation of children , protection programs , rights violations , public policy , guarantees and protection of rights law
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How to Cite
Sargent, S., & Fernández de Rota, J. M. . (2025). Meaningful Participation of Children in Child Protection Programs: A Path to Break Cycles of Abuse in Chile. Journal Studies of Public Policy, 11(2), 125–141. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-6296.2025.80143
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Journal Studies of Public Policy
Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas
Universidad de Chile
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