Child and Adolescent Protection Systems in Ecuador

This chapter outlines Ecuador’s child protection systems. Ecuador’s signing of the Convention of the Rights of the Child in 1989 was the result of a long struggle to institutionalize and legislate children’s rights in the country. There have been important improvements in terms of the availability of a comprehensive public child protection system. However, ongoing political, economic, institutional, and legislative upheaval in the country poses difficulties to the implementation of the rights of children. As such, this chapter explores difficulties in the implementation of the National Decentralized Comprehensive Child Protection System. In particular, it highlights how Ecuador is suffering from deep structural socio-economic, regional, ethnic, and gender inequality.