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J Child Fam Stud (2012) 21:7587 DOI 10.1007/s10826-011-9539-z
ORIGINAL PAPER
Family Policy Initiatives in Latin America: The Case of Colombia and Ecuador
Sonia Carrillo Karen Ripoll-Nez
Paul L. Schvaneveldt
Published online: 4 October 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract Family policy initiatives in Colombia and Ecuador have targeted primarily families living in poverty. This paper discusses some of the major policy initiatives oriented to improve the living conditions of economically disadvantaged families in both countries. We argue that, even though governments recognize the importance of family policies, existing policies and programs for families living in poverty do not directly focus on family issues. They represent more implicit than explicit family policies. We analyze some of the issues that may hinder the development, implementation, and evaluation of family policies in Colombia and Ecuador. Such issues stem from political and economic instability, legislation, changing family demographics, as well as coordination among agencies that develop, implement, and evaluate policies. We discuss challenges related to family policies in both countries and recommendations to improve existing policy initiatives.
Keywords Family policy Poverty Challenges
Colombia Ecuador
Introduction
The family has been dened as a basic social group characterized by affective relationships, reciprocity, solidarity, and conict. Among its main tasks are to provide support and protection to all its members and to serve as a learning context for numerous social skills (Puyana 2008). In the present paper we analyze family policy initiatives in two Latin American countries: Colombia and Ecuador. We chose to center our analysis in these two South American countries due to various similarities between them.
Colombia and Ecuador share the same history of cultural and religious colonization by Spain (XVI century) prior to their establishment as independent republics (XVIIIXIX centuries). They also have in common some of the basic elements from the Latin American culture (language, belief system, social structures, etc.; Lockart and Schwartz 1983). Moreover, in our review of policies to alleviate poverty in Latin America, we identied other similarities between these countries. First, due to their high poverty rates (about 40% of the population in both countries is identied as poor), most social programs and public policies have the goal to alleviate the effects of poverty on vulnerable population groups (i.e., infants, children). Secondly, in both...