On June 25, the Coquimbo Children’s Foundation turned six years old, an anniversary that they celebrate not only from the perspective of milestones, but also “from the pain and sadness of not being able to move forward,” indicates the founder and executive director. of the organization, Gloria Mieres.
In the midst of the commemoration, Mieres denounced the harm they have suffered, due to a series of debts that do not allow them, for example, to apply for certain funds or receive new state subsidies. A problem for which they point directly to the Better Childhood Service.
According to what was stated in a conversation with El Día, on March 17 they were removed from the administration of the collaborating residence for the care and protection of children and adolescents, Ayelén.
Gloria Mieres describes it as the culmination of a complex process that they experienced due to a lack of funding, and which they tried to counteract with different efforts, until, by decision of the state agency, they were removed.
“I think that this did not go down well with the service, which did not value the autonomy that we had to find solutions,” he said.
According to what it indicates, the residence was in charge of a “provisional administration” of Mejor Niñez, which operated for months with workers who collaborated with the Foundation for Children. Meanwhile, on January 4 of the current year, that period ended and a new body was put in charge.
The problem, says Gloria, is that during the time in which the service operated provisionally, a series of debts were generated, due to non-payment of taxes and impositions, among others, which were registered in its RUT.
Likewise, it mentions that there were violations of workers’ labor rights and these were terminated for reasons that did not correspond, which also ended in fines by the Labor Inspection.
As a result, he says, it currently has millions in debt, generated by the state service, but which directly affect the Coquimbo Foundation for Children, which currently works with other vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilities.
“With the poor process that this service carried out while the provisional administration was in place, Fundación para la Infancia cannot apply for any fund. We were applying for a presidential grant, but we couldn’t because I have to present my financial records free of fines. “I don’t have them clean and it is not because the foundation has not paid impositions or taxes, but because the provisional administration of the protection service, while it was in the residence, did not pay.”
Gloria Mieres says that last week she met with finance staff from Mejor Niñez, who had acknowledged the tax debts, so they were looking for a solution through the central level. However, she says that nothing has been said about fines for labor issues.
As of this week, furthermore, no payments have been settled and “there are no solutions.”
Report infringement
The executive director of the foundation also criticizes the state agency for the changes made to the residence and for not collaborating with the financial situation they faced and continuing with the service.
According to the complaint, there have been incidents and escapes, as well as situations of violation that would affect children, which she says she has witnessed as a resident of the residence, for which she says she has proceeded with alerts to the Children’s Ombudsman’s Office.
“When children are deprived of the possibility of seeing their mother from one day to the next, there are changes in temperament and behaviour. The children also resented not seeing us, the team that was with them, and they began to have many crises. Nobody thought about the children (…). We had a whole issue of respect for neurodivergence, I had calm zones for them where they regulated themselves. I finished a year without any protocol activation,” she said.
Answer from Best Childhood
El Día asked the Mejor Niñez Service about this situation, from where they indicated that the pension administration period was generated as a result of “different situations associated with non-compliance with the agreement and complaints received in the Office of Information, Claims and Suggestions (OIRS) for complaints of serious violations and other complex situations.”
The purpose, they say, was to take over while the operation of the residence was stabilized, addressing “administrative, technical and financial” aspects to improve the conditions of the children and adolescents.
“The complexity of the residential situation and the process itself has required joint work with the collaborating organization Fundación para la Infancia de Coquimbo to address the administrative and contractual aspects of the staff, a process that is in the final stage of resolution. Currently, the residence is run by professionals from Fundación Chilena para la Discapacidad, who constantly supervise the residence and are developing challenging work in relation to the intervention processes aimed at children and adolescents with severe and moderate disabilities, requiring specific support and care to carry out their daily activities.”
However, there was no reference to the debts or the reason for them in the service statement.
