Chile Leads the Way: A Unique and Effective Access to Justice Model for Children and Adolescents

Addressing the needs of children and adolescents requires an approach that responds appropriately to their specific characteristics, rights, and developmental stages. Within the broader paradigm of “people-centered justice,” this calls for advancing towards a “child- and adolescent-centered justice” model, one that redefines the relationship between young people and the justice system by ensuring adapted procedures and incorporating principles such as the best interests of the child, progressive autonomy, and comprehensive development.

Chile¹ has become a regional and international reference in this field thanks to its model of legal representation and specialized defense, expressed through a public policy implemented in the programs Mi Abogado (My Lawyer or PMA) and La Niñez y Adolescencia se Defienden (Children and Adolescents Defend Themselves or LNAD).

As part of the Pathfinders Justice for All work to highlight best practices on people-centered justice, the country case study on this topic will be forthcoming in early 2026.

A model born out of a crisis

For years, multiple reports from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Chilean Judiciary, and academia, among others, documented serious rights violations within the state protection system for children under state care who were in residential foster care. 

This led to a crisis of such magnitude that it prompted a complaint to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, triggering the Communications Protocol, which allows Individuals, their representatives, or another State to file complaints if they believe a State party has violated the Convention. From then on, a cross-cutting political consensus was consolidated: the urgency of guaranteeing due protection and effective access to justice. To this end, the State created a system of legal representation and specialized, autonomous, and comprehensive defense to guarantee that every child or adolescent victim of serious violations engaged in a judicial or administrative process is supported by a qualified defense team.

Two programs, one purpose

The Chilean model is implemented through two complementary programs directed at child and adolescent victims of crime or rights violations. Both operate with an interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach:

• Mi Abogado Program (PMA): Provides legal representation and specialized defense in high-complexity cases, primarily involving children and adolescents who have been separated from their families and placed under State care. Each case is managed by an interdisciplinary triad (a lawyer, a psychologist, and a social worker) who work together through psycho-socio-legal strategies.

• La Niñez y Adolescencia se Defienden (LNAD): Focuses on medium- and low-complexity cases involving children and adolescents who have experienced serious violations but remain within their family environment. Intervention is carried out by interdisciplinary teams composed of a lawyer and a social worker, integrating legal and social perspectives. 

Despite their different scopes, both programs share a common purpose: upholding due process guarantees and ensuring the effective participation of children and adolescents, including their right to be heard, throughout judicial and administrative proceedings.

Practices that make a difference

Over the last few years, the programs have generated positive practices that have been decisive for its implementation and have had an impact on the quality of specialized defense. Among the best practices carried out by the defense teams, the following stand out:

• The defense is designed in an interdisciplinary and joint manner through effectively integrated psycho-socio-legal strategies.
• The defense is carried out with technical autonomy, acting independently from families and state institutions, and safeguarding a defense free from interference.
• Life-cycle, gender, intercultural, territorial, and intersectional approaches are consistently applied in each case.
• The teams ensure that the opinions of children and adolescents are effectively heard and taken into account in accordance with their age and maturity. 
• The children’s and adolescents’ opinions are integrated into the defense strategies, articulating the principle of the best interests of the child.
• A sustained ethical and professional commitment is maintained, reflected in dedication, co-responsibility, and continuous improvement.

The voice of the protagonists

Those who had access to specialized defense during childhood or adolescence consistently highlight the value of being heard and having their views genuinely considered by the courts. They emphasize the support and trust provided by defense teams, particularly their lawyers, and the importance of receiving clear, accessible information.

In many cases, this meaningful participation has contributed to transforming judicial decisions, demonstrating that children’s and adolescents’ involvement can, and should have, a real impact within the justice system.

Challenges and sustainability of the model

Like any innovative public policy, the model faces structural tensions, including a heavy workload, insufficient resources, weaknesses in information management, and the challenge of consolidating a long-term institutional framework. 

However, the path for improvement is clear. Chile has identified viable routes to deepen the system’s sustainability while maintaining its public, specialized, and rights-based nature.

A call to action

The Chilean model is a lesson in public policy grounded in children’s rights, as it demonstrates that the specialized legal defense of children and adolescents is not a privilege, but an ethical and legal obligation of States. 

Its success lies in having created institutional capacities, expert teams, and common standards that transcend political junctures. 

Chile’s experience offers a roadmap for the region, demonstrating that it is possible to build justice systems that are truly child-centered. 

The call to action is to recognize that effective child-centered justice requires specialized and autonomous technical defense.

[1] Chile has been a member of the Justice Action Coalition since 2022.

Ester Valenzuela is a lawyer with a Master’s degree in Children, Adolescents, and Family Rights from Diego Portales University, and has more than 20 years of experience in research, teaching, and advising governments and international organizations. Ester was a consultant for the Pathfinders’ Justice for All in 2025 team. Her work focuses on the evaluation of regulatory frameworks, public policies, and programs on children’s and adolescents’ rights, and she has led the development of standards for legal representation, specialized defense, and determination of the best interests of the child. As co-founder of the La Voz del Niño (Voice of the Child) Program in Chile, she dedicated more than a decade to the specialized legal defense of children in protection cases. Her academic and practical experience have established her as a recognized expert, called upon to support legislative reform processes at the national and international levels and to act as an expert witness before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.