Child welfare, public policy, and social action in La Piedad, Michoacan, Mexico

Abstract

This article addresses the welfare of children as a sample of how the family, public administration and civil society act in the care of minors and gets back to a path for the resignification of childhood as a bearer of rights. Specifically, the state of child welfare in La Piedad, Michoacan, Mexico, as perceived by the minors themselves, is investigated. The normative framework foreseen to protect their rights are reviewed and some social initiatives related to childcare are examined. For giving a previous conclusion, one would say that child welfare is and will be a permanent goal to be achieved, in which comprehensive public action is necessary between family, school, civil society, government and infants. While working on this, all these actors can be persuaded of childhood as an agent of rights and of the importance of educating ourselves to accept this fact.

Keywords: childhood, child welfare, happiness, government policy