Perspectivas profesionales sobre participación infantil en programas de protección de derechos en Chile
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5027/psicoperspectivas-Vol25-Issue2-fulltext-3606Keywords:
child participation, child protection, child welfare servicesAbstract
Participation of children in psychosocial intervention is a fundamental principle in rights-based protection programs in Chile, although its implementation faces conceptual and methodological tensions. This qualitative study analyzed the perceptions of ten professionals from the Child Protection System through semi-structured interviews and Grounded Theory. Two conceptions of participation were identified: participation as attendance at activities, and participation as recognition of children’s opinions and agency. Additionally, factors that facilitate or hinder its effectiveness were recognized, such as technical guidelines, applied strategies, and adult-centric practices. Although professionals value the importance of participation for achieving objectives and strengthening children’s personal development, structural challenges persist for its full incorporation. The discussion highlights the importance of strengthening professional training and promoting institutional mechanisms that ensure the effective participation of children in rights protection programs in Chile.
References
Abebe, T., Dar, A., & Lyså, I. M. (2022). Southern theories and decolonial childhood studies. Childhood, 29(3), 255-275. https://doi.org/10.1177/09075682221111690
Belaunzarán, L., Flaherty, M., Menestrina, M., Pagano, S., & Zapico, L. (2020). Los 30 años de la Convención de los Derechos del Niño: una mirada crítica sobre su vigencia. Revista Derechos en Acción, 14(14), 831-840. https://doi.org/10.24215/25251678e377
Bonilla-García, M. Á., & López-Suárez, A. D. (2016). Ejemplificación del proceso metodológico de la teoría fundamentada. Cinta de moebio, 57, 305-315. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0717-554X2016000300006
Bourdieu, P. (2008). El sentido práctico. Siglo XXI.
Bouma, H., López, M., Knorth, E., & Grietens, H. (2018). Meaningful participation for children in the Dutch child protection system: A critical analysis of relevant provisions in policy documents. Child Abuse & Neglect, 79, 279-292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.02.016
Catalán-Catalán, M. (2025). Participación infantil en el espacio público: discusión desde la ciudad de Valparaíso, Chile. Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud, 23(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.11600/rlcsnj.23.1.6611
Collins, T. M., & Wright, L. H. (2022). The challenges for children’s rights in international child protection: Opportunities for transformation. World Development, 159, 106032. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.106032
Corbetta, P. (2007). Metodología y técnicas de investigación social. McGraw-Hill.
Díaz-Bórquez, D., Contreras-Shats, N., & Bozo-Carrillo, N. (2018). Participación infantil como aproximación a la democracia: desafíos de la experiencia chilena. Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud, 16(1), 101-113. https://doi.org/10.11600/1692715x.16105
Espinoza Ortega, E. (2024). Participación de niños, niñas y adolescentes en los procesos de mediación familiar en Chile a la luz de la Ley No. 21.430. Revista CES Derecho, 15(1), 31-52. https://doi.org/10.21615/cesder.7512
Esteban, M. B., Novella, A., & Martínez, M. (2022). Principle of progressive autonomy, participation, and recognition of agency: Substantive citizenship in the transition from childhood to adolescence. Foro de Educación, 20(1), 134-157. http://dx.doi.org/10.14516/fde.929
Gaitán, L. (2006). Sociología de la Infancia: nuevas perspectivas. Síntesis.
García-Meneses, J., & Collins, M. E. (2024). Surviving violence, ambiguity and oneself: The experience of child protection workers in Chile. The British Journal of Social Work, 54(3), 866-884. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcad231
García-Quiroga, M., Loredo Herrera, B., Roig, D., González, A., & Vallejo Correa, V. (2023). “A criterio del juez”: desafíos para la participación infantil en justicia de familia. Derecho PUCP, 90, 115-138. https://doi.org/10.18800/derechopucp.202301.004
García-Quiroga, M., & Salvo-Agoglia, I. (2020). Too vulnerable to participate? Challenges for meaningful participation in research with children in alternative care and adoption. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920958965
García-Quiroga, M., & Vallejo Correa, V. (2021). Protección y participación en la infancia: Hacia una integración de dos conceptos en tensión. En M. I. Reyes Espejo, M. García-Quiroga, J. Pávez Mena, & N. Mazzucchelli Olmedo (Eds.), Rutas para pensar lo comunitario: Saberes, prácticas y reflexiones (pp. 25-44). Ediciones Universitarias de Valparaíso, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. https://comunitariachile.org/web/rutas-para-pensar-lo-comunitario-saberes-practicas-y-reflexiones/
Ghio Villalobos, A., Cabrera Herrera, V., Bravo-Paredes, C., & García-Quiroga, M. (2023). Participación y salud mental en niños, niñas y adolescentes: percepción de profesionales del sistema de protección. Psykhe (Santiago), 32(2), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.7764/psykhe.2021.33151
Gillen, A., Canavan, J., Devaney, C., & McGregor, C. (2024). Systems complexity in child protection and welfare: Policy, leadership, practice and evaluation. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032618302
Hart, R. (1992). Children’s participation: From tokenism to citizenship. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.
Holt, S. (2018). A voice or a choice? Children's views on participating in decisions about post-separation contact with domestically abusive fathers. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 40(4), 459-476. https://doi.org/10.1080/09649069.2018.1519653
Keddell, E. (2023). Recognising the embedded child in child protection: Children’s participation, inequalities and cultural capital. Children and Youth Services Review, 147, 106815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.106815
Kosher, H., & Ben-Arieh, A. (2020). Social workers' perceptions of children's right to participation. Child & Family Social Work, 25(2), 294-303. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12685
Lansdown, G. (2020). Strengthening child agency to prevent and overcome maltreatment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 110, 104398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104398
Ley [de Chile] No. 21.430 (2022). Sobre garantías y protección integral de los derechos de la niñez y adolescencia. https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=1158569
Liebel, M. (2022). Contrarrestar el adultocentrismo. Sobre niñez, participación política y justicia intergeneracional. Última Década, 30(58), 4-36. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-22362022000100004
López López, M., Wieldraaijer-Vincent, L., & ten Brummelaar, M. (2023). Reimagining participation of young people in decision making in contexts of vulnerability. In B. J. Taylor, J. D. Fluke, J. C. Graham, E. Keddell, C. Killick, A. Shlonsky, & A. Whittaker (Eds.), Sage handbook of decision making, assessment and risk in Social Work (pp. 230-242). SAGE Publishing. https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/the-sage-handbook-of-decision-making-assessment-and-risk-in-social-work/book276079
Lundy, L. (2007). Voice is not enough: Conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Educational Research Journal, 33(6), 927-942. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920701657033
McCarthy, E. (2016). Young people in residential care, their participation and the influencing factors. Child Care in Practice, 22(4), 368-385. https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2016.1188763
Michail, S., Baird, K., Fattore, T., & Grace, R. (2023). Operationalising children's participation: Competing understandings of the policy to practice ‘gap’. Children & Society, 37(5), 1576-1595. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12708
Noreña, S. M. R., & Ortega, A. A. (2024). Pensar la primera infancia desde el campo y el habitus: aproximaciones y puntos de encuentro para la problematización de la participación infantil. Zero-a-Seis, 26(49), 260-276. https://doi.org/10.5007/1980-4512.2024.e95155
Ribeiro de Souza, J. T., Mok-Aravena, C., Baleriola-Escudero, E., Morales-Muñoz, K., Núñez-Parra, L., & Sisto-Campos, V. (2024). Managerialización en políticas de protección a infancia en Chile: perspectiva de trabajadores. Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud, 22(2), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.11600/rlcsnj.22.2.5990
Rizzini, I. (2024). Beyond adult centrism: intergenerational action in defense of the rights of children and adolescents. Sociedad e Infancias, 8(2), 239-263. https://doi.org/10.5209/soci.97511
Roig, D., Molina, S., Parra, S., & García-Quiroga, M. (2022). Alcances y limitaciones de la participación infantil en orientaciones técnicas de programas ambulatorios SENAME: un análisis documental. CUHSO, 32(1), 310-334. https://doi.org/10.7770/cuhso-v32n1-art2747
Salazar-Muñoz, M., Montserrat, C., Alfaro, J., & Melipillán, R. (2025). Subjective well-being of vulnerable children in Chile: Differences by gender and risk assessment. Child Indicators Research, 18(1), 115-135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-024-10197-4
Servicio Nacional de Protección Especializada a la Niñez y Adolescencia [de Chile]. (2023). Orientaciones técnicas programas Acompañamiento Familiar Territorial y Prevención Focalizada (AFT-PF). Ministerio de Desarrollo Social y Familia, Gobierno de Chile. https://www.servicioproteccion.gob.cl/portal/Colaboradores/Marco-tecnico/
Shier, H. (2001). Pathways to participation: Openings, opportunities and obligations. Children & Society, 15(2), 107-117. https://doi.org/10.1002/chi.617
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Bases de la investigación cualitativa: técnicas y procedimientos para desarrollar la teoría fundamentada. Editorial Universidad de Antioquia.
Tisdall, E. K. M. (2017). Conceptualising children and young people’s participation: Examining vulnerability, social accountability and co-production. The International Journal of Human Rights, 21(1), 59-75. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2016.1248125
Toros, K. (2020). A systematic review of children's participation in child protection decision-making: Tokenistic presence or not? Children & Society, 35(3), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12418
Valles, M. S. (2007). Técnicas cualitativas de investigación social: reflexión metodológica y práctica profesional. Síntesis.
van Bijleveld, G., de Vetten, M., & Dedding, C. (2020). Co-creating participation tools with children within child protection services: What lessons we can learn from the children. Action Research, 19(4), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750319899715
Zambrano, V., Fernández-Pacheco, G., & Salazar-Muñoz, M. (2023). The transition of Chilean adolescents from the child welfare system to the adolescent justice system: A continuation or an accumulation of adverse factors? Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1194294. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1194294
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Miguel Omar Salazar Muñoz, Dorian Vega Eeles, Eduardo Sandoval - Obando (Autor)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All manuscript will be published under the Creative Commons 4.0 International License.