The Secretary of Children, Adolescents and Family, Gabriel Lerner, stressed this Friday that the Universal Child Allowance (AUH) for children and adolescents without parental care “is a remedial measure” for minors who They are “in institutional care because they have suffered a serious situation of threats, or violation of their rights in their family environments.”
In statements he made from the Casa Rosada to channels 10 in Mar del Plata, 10 in Córdoba and 8 in San Juan, the secretary referred to the publication of the Decree No. 5 of 2023, signed by President Alberto Fernández, in which the monthly payment of 100% of the value of the Universal Allowance for Daughter and Son (AUH) was provided. to children and adolescents without parental care and who live in residential or family care facilities.
The measure also provides for the monthly payment of 100% of the AUH to girls, boys and adolescents with disabilities, if they have a valid Unique Disability Certificate.
In Argentina “there are approximately between 9,500 and 10,000 girls, boys and adolescents who are in alternative care to that of their families, due to the adoption of exceptional measures to protect their rights,” Lerner explained.
and clarified that “I am not talking about those boys and girls who are in the care of the extended family, but care by institutional devices created by the provincial governments.”
The official maintained that “so far, these minors did not receive the Universal Child Allowance (AUH) because the design did not allow it, and that meant unfair inequality for those children, so the recent decree of the president comes to repair that situation ” .
In this sense, he expressed that “although it is a very small portion”, compared to the 4,500,000 children who receive the AUH, “it is a population of boys and girls who have particularly suffered a lot, and this decree is a remedial measure and that fully recognizes them as subjects of law”.
From the decree, “a specific procedure” was established, in cases in which a province adopts an exceptional measure in which a boy, girl, adolescent or group of siblings are temporarily separated from their parents due to a situation of threats or violation of their rights in their family spheres.
“It is a population of boys and girls who have particularly suffered a lot, and this decree is a remedial measure that fully recognizes them as subjects of law”
“The province (which corresponds) will notify the National Secretariat for Childhood, Adolescence and Family (Senaf) since there is an articulated procedure with Anses so that a referent who is close to the boy or girl is nominated, so that on their behalf they receive the amount of the AUH every month in a specific account,” said Lerner.
Meanwhile, it indicated that “when a province, either by administrative or judicial means or jointly, decides to separate a boy or girl from the family environment (…) the allowance that until then the parents received will be suspended.”
In this way, “the province will nominate an adult close to the minor to be the one who perceives the value of the AUH.”
Finally, the official warned that this money “cannot be invested in guaranteeing basic rights that must be guaranteed by the province”, but that the funds “will be applied to cultural consumption, gifts, access to sports, technology and recreational activities”.
