Putting the focus on prioritizing and protecting the right of children to live in a family, is the fundamental pillar of the work done by civil society organizations that contribute to the discussion on the Adoption System Reform.

One of the latest news from Draft Amendment to the Adoption Law (No. 19620), entered in the year 2013, was the vote of the Chamber of Deputies that opens the possibility of adoption to all types of families in the country, including homoparental and homomaternal adoption. This project did not progress from 2015 to June 2018, when the current government entered a substitute indication, reactivating its processing in the Congress and the public debate.

Although said project declares as an objective "to ensure the best interests of the adopted child or adolescent, protecting their right to live and develop within a family", different visions of civil society have shown that the focus of the debate has not children as protagonists and subjects of rights, but it follows on the characteristics that these parents must fulfill. The look is, rather, "adultcentrist".

Those who have actively participated in this discussion are Support Adoption Foundation. Their mission, to improve the system and the reality of the adoption in Chile, has allowed them to elaborate an in-depth diagnosis about the current Adoption Program, as well as to fight to restore the right of every child to grow in an atmosphere of affection and provide the care you deserve.

On the improvements that the project introduces to the current law since 1999, Amanda Lacalle, Executive Director of the foundation, declares: "Starting from the basis that any type of modernization of this law is a contribution, one of the great advances is incorporate the concept of family diversity, which not only focuses homoparental adoption, but also recognizes families are composed in different ways ".

The regularization of procedural deadlines for adoption, making them more expeditious for children to spend less time in institutions, is another of the points highlighted by the foundation. On the other hand, there are still things to work for better regulations.

"We have to ensure that adoption is a right of children to have parents and we must eliminate any incentive for selection by the guardians. I can not choose who to adopt, "says the Executive Director in reference to those cases of children who spend years in the system and can not find a home. "Today adoption is not contemplated as a definitive protection solution. There is no procedure that specifies that, in some circumstances, an evaluation of adoptability hearing is applied, "he adds.

On the approach of the law, Amanda Lacalle is clear: "We must not forget the principle of adoption is the right of children to be children, and not that of parents to have children. This is something that, from our "adult-centric" perspective, is something that we have a hard time understanding and discussing. The law talks about this right to live as a family, but there has been a lot of emphasis on how that family should be. "

Today, the reform is waiting to move to its second constitutional process and will be discussed in the Senate. Meanwhile, the hope is that, when they return to talk, the children and adolescents who have seen their rights violated, can be first.