Presentation of Results - Cross-Government Review of the Child Protection and Care System
On July 4 to 6, 2023, the Interagency Forum of Diagnosis and Dialogue “Together for the Harmony of the System in favor of children and adolescents” was held as an update of the Cross-government Review of the system and processes for the protection of children separated from their families or at risk of being so in Paraguay, bringing together the key actors of the system in 3 intensive work days to provide the State a roadmap with efficient and achievable solutions and improvements, which seek to optimize the protection system throughout the country in application of the law, with the CHILD as the only center.
It was developed based on the Cross-government Review of the Child and Adolescent Protection System in Paraguay completed at the end of 2019. The resulting transversal plan, approved by the Supreme Court of Justice and the National Council for Children and Adolescents at the beginning of 2020, could not be implemented due to the COVID-19 health emergency declared shortly after, and its side effects. That is why, continuing the entry into force of Law No. 6486/20 “For the promotion and protection of the right of children and adolescents to live in a family, which regulates alternative care measures and adoption”, this forum was convened in conjunction with State institutions that make up the System—the Ministry of Children and Adolescents (MINNA), the Ministry of Public Defense (MDP), the Public Ministry (MP) and the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), with the support of the Paraguay Protects Families movement (PPF) and other entities (AFFEO, MNP, ENFOQUE Niñez and Quinta Ykua Satí)—to work with key actors on the main issues that must be agreed upon and allow the establishment of specific actions that will achieve a more efficient and collaborative system in compliance with the law, which improves the quality of care for children and families in Paraguay, while reducing the high social and financial cost that affects the country’s development, updating the transversal plan resulting from the 2019 Cross government Review in light of the current context and the new law in force.
