Scope and limitations of child participation in orientative technical documents of SENAME’s ambulatory programs: a documentary analysis

Abstract

Among children's rights, the one about participation acts as a protective factor for their development and wellbeing, and as a means for achieving other rights. In Chile, research in child participation is scarce, especially in the national child protection system, SENAME by its abbreviation in Spanish . It is crucial to promote and safeguard a meaningful child participation,considering the impact that decisions taken in protection systems might have in their lives. This study strives to comprehend the scope and limitations of child participation in technical orientative documents of SENAME's outpatient programs, through a document analysis using grounded theory. Results show that the concept "participation" in these documents is applied inconsistently, and mechanisms and spaces of participation for children seem diffuse. Children are seen as victims or vulnerable beings in the documents, and that appears to limit their possibilities of participating by themselves; thus, the family or caretakers of the child take a central role in the documents.