DIF has custodial care of 39 minors in 12 shelters
The DIF building, located on Degollado Street in Chapala. (Photo: Jazmín Stengel)
Jazmín Stengel (Chapala).- The Office for the Protection of Children and Adolescents (DIF) Chapala has custody of 39 minors, but none can be adopted until DIF obtains processes of parental authority–a relative’s legal permission, a necessary requirement for adoption.
DIF initiated nine processes of parental authority last year. According to DIF, five of the 43 children in their 12 Chapala shelters have been handed over to close relatives.
In Mexico, if these processes are not initiated by the custodial authorities, either through ignorance or unwillingness, the children are at risk of remaining in shelters without the possibility of access to a family, said Paloma Ventura Valenzuela, head of the children’s ombudsman at the municipal level.
For the minors who have not undergone the process granting parental rights to access adoption, the procedures are more complicated, because in most cases the child’s relatives are untraceable or their sociolegal situation does not allow them to give up the parental rights of the child, which complicates the process for the authorities to acquire it legally, said Ventura Valenzuela.
Consequently, the children’s files remain open for years in the Public Ministry with the investigation incomplete. Additionally, many governmental administrations overlook the children’s situation, failing also to provide the social-work services to support the investigations. Some have not received reports in more than 12 years, said Emmanuel Anthony Frutos, operating director of the children’s shelter Love in Action of Chapala.
Translated by Mags Petela
Los comentarios están cerrados.
© 2016. Todos los derechos reservados. Semanario de la Ribera de Chapala