Attachments
Introduction
Reforms to the Migration Law (LM), approved at the end of 2020, establish that children, both accompanied and those travelling alone, cannot be held in migrant detention centres in accordance with the principles of family unity. Instead, immigration authorities are required to immediately notify the Child Protection Attorney General, and refer children to the corresponding System for Integral Family Development (DIF). Where necessary, children can also be taken to public or private Social Assistance Centres (CAS) for primary, secondary or third stage reception.
On the other hand, the General Law on the Rights of Children states that decisions affecting children should be based on their best interests, and that Child Protection Attorneys are responsible for determining this by establishing a Plan for the Restitution of Rights and defining the necessary Protection Measures.
Most accompanied and unaccompanied migrant children do not have the option of family reception. As such, the protection measures developed by the Child Protection Attorneys must include the option of referring children to community or “residential” reception, such as a public or private CAS. In its monthly figures, the National Institute for Migration (INM) has begun to report the referral of children.
Based on its mission to end immigration detention for children, IDC has collaborated with various public and private CAS (shelters) to develop or strengthen the intervention models of these centres as well as their capacity for temporary residential reception. This enables centres to receive children and adolescents, rather than them being detained in immigration detention.
Through this work, we have identified promising practices, which can inform and motivate other spaces to develop open-door care models that are sensitive to the needs of migrant children. In this document, we highlight two care models: one implemented by a public CAS for migrant children2, and a second, by a private CAS that has reformulated its care model following the reception of this population.