The Ministry of Social Development (Mides) adopted an action plan to strengthen the shelter protection system and comprehensive care centers for children, girls, and adolescents in situations of vulnerability. This measure emerged from an inter-institutional table headed by Minister Beatriz Carles de Arango, where the care for this population was addressed. During the meeting, the head of Mides reiterated that the comprehensive protection of childhood is a shared responsibility between the State and society, which requires effective coordination and immediate decisions on a considered urgent and sensitive issue. The plan contemplates the review and updating of the Protocol for the Care of Children without Parental Care in Shelters in Panama, with the objective of ordering and strengthening the institutional response. Among the measures, it includes classification by age ranges, differentiated profiles, and the identification of individual needs to ensure timely interventions. It also establishes a technical approach to behaviors associated with trauma, under a specialized focus, in addition to strengthening the admission and assignment processes in care centers. This initiative is framed within Law 285 of 2022, Law 14 of 2009, and Executive Decree 404 of 2020, regulations that govern the protection of childhood and adolescence in Panama. The plan seeks to guarantee care with a multidisciplinary approach and centered on human rights. At the table, representatives of the Ministry of Government, Ministry of Health, University of Panama, Ombudsman's Office, Superior Court for Children and Adolescence, National Police, Senniaf, and Unicef participated, working on the definition of concrete and measurable actions. Minister Carles de Arango indicated that this coordination space was designed for decision-making between institutions, with the aim of advancing on defined results within the protection system.
