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University of good practices against child abandonment in Central America

November 2023

Ongoing project

Update
The results of the research conducted within the project were presented at the conference ‘University of Good Practices against Child Abandonment in Central America: presentation of the research report on child and adolescent protection systems in El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and the Dominican Republic’. 

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The research, coordinated by the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and carried out in collaboration with four local universities (the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas (UCA) in El Salvador, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH) in Honduras the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas (UAT) in Mexico and the Universidad APEC (UNAPEC) in the Dominican Republic), investigated the functioning of the Child and Adolescent Protection System in these four countries, with particular attention to minors in transit, in order to identify their strengths and areas for improvement.

A complex and diversified picture emerged from the documentary analysis, characterised by different themes and phenomena emerging for each country. The results of the research were summarised in a report available here and which will form the basis for the round tables organised in the following months in the countries involved. These moments of confrontation made it possible to discuss the evidence that emerged and to identify shared operational strategies for strengthening the protection system.

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University of good practices against child abandonment in Central America

The project contributes to ensure and realise the general welfare of the minor, with particular reference to abandoned children or children in risk of abandonment in Central America, by promoting a collaborative and participative approach that aims to increase the responsibility of the actors involved in the child protection system and that implies the development of long-term structured and sustainable initiatives, oriented to identify, together with local resources, the origins of the high abandonment rates in Central America. Countries such as Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, are notorious for constant violations of children's fundamental rights and for high rates of violence and abandonment, partly due to socio-political instability and critical mixed migration flows.

The project leader is Amici dei Bambini Ai.Bi, which has more than 30 years' of experience in projects aimed at the protection of out-of-family or unaccompanied minors and is involved in research, training and capacity-building projects.

The Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore participates in the project as a partner, together with SOS Bambino International Adoption A.P.S., Fondazione Patrizia Nidoli Onlus, Soleterre - strategie di pace ONLUS, Congregazione poveri servi della divina provvidenza - Istituto Don Calabria.

Once the needs in the different countries of destination were identified, the intervention, carried out in cooperation with the institutions and authorities in charge in the four countries, the CSOs and the UN Agencies, foresees the implementation of the following activities:

It has been planned to elaborate and disseminate an exhaustive research on the condition of vulnerable minors and the child-protection system (legal framework, functioning of the system, dedicated resources, etc.) in the four countries.

The research action will be coordinated by the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC) through the establishment of a multidisciplinary working group involving professors and researchers belonging to the psychological, sociological and juridical areas of the UCSC and of the four identified local universities.

The research action will consist of the following activities:

  1. Documentary analysis to outline a clear and up-to-date qualitative and quantitative picture of the situation, of the functioning of child protection policies and systems, of existing good practices and of the situation of minors in transit in the countries involved.
  2. Realisation of semi-structured interviews for each country aimed at complementing the documentary analysis
  1. Realisation of a research report and presentation of the results

The action envisages the multidisciplinary training, based on the needs identified during the need assessment phase, of operators and officials for each country involved in the project. The teaching staff will consist of: experts from the partners and the lead partner, teachers and researchers from UCSC and local universities.

The purpose of this action is to ensure that the actors involved in the child protection system in the four countries will share programmes and strategies for the prevention and protection of the most vulnerable minors and will strengthen the network created during the project, enhancing the direct involvement of all the actors. Adolescent stakeholders will also be consulted in order to guarantee their right to be heard, to participate and to integrate their fundamental point of view in the intervention programmes addressed on them.

The desired change, that the project would like to generate, is in the production and dissemination of knowledge, the increase of the network's capacity to conduct quality research and the enhancement of the capacity of stakeholders (policy-makers, practitioners, officials) in making informed decisions about children and families. In the long run, this is expected to have a positive impact on the well-being of children outside the family, in risk of abandonment and in transit, through the increased effectiveness of the initiatives addressed them.