In Mexico, 761 girls, boys and adolescents are abandoned every year. That figure, almost impossible to imagine, reveals that something very serious is breaking in our society: in just one decade, child abandonment skyrocketed by more than 600 percent.
A study by the Network for Children’s Rights in Mexico (REDIM) revealed that, in 2024, 1,282 people between the ages of one and 17 were treated for abandonment or neglect. An impressive increase of 616.2% compared to 2010, when 179 cases were recorded.
The causes of this abandonment are poverty, drug consumption and the absence of protection, solidarity and help networks. But there are also people kidnapped or murdered by organized crime gangs, who are unable to provide care and protection to their children.
Where are the majority of girls, boys and adolescents abandoned? In homes. Not on the streets, hospitals or schools. No. The abandonment of minors is recorded, for the most part, in places that should be their refuge.
Who are the main victims of abandonment? Women between the ages of 12 and 17 account for more than 70% of the cases registered last year. An age group that is an easy target for other risks, such as teenage pregnancy, sexual violence and exploitation.
Childhoods that, regardless of their gender and age, are left in a dark loneliness, without company, protection or guidance. They remain absolutely vulnerable, because the Mexican State has not been able to design public policies to protect children, because there are no resources to accompany them or integrate them into a new family circle.
Mexico cannot afford to close its eyes and discard them. The National System for the Comprehensive Development of the Family (SNDIF) should be much more than a paperwork office. Their role cannot be limited to taking censuses or opening administrative folders.
It is necessary to reactivate agreements with civil organizations, universities and groups of psychologists and social workers who can accompany these minors in a humane and sustained manner. Only in this way can the SNDIF become a true shield for those left without anyone.
That means strengthening its shelter network, guaranteeing immediate psychological care and prioritizing the search for adoptive families who are prepared to provide real love and care.
And, in addition, coordinate with prosecutors’ offices, public ministries and courts to ensure that each abandoned minor has a safe place to sleep, hot food and professional support.
No more warehouses of sadness or sites that operate under the logic of charity. A child who has been abandoned needs more than just a roof: he needs affection, support and therapy to understand that abandonment does not define his value.
And the families who participate in the adoption processes also deserve to leave the bureaucratic labyrinths of waiting, paperwork and institutional distrust. Safe and loving environments for childhoods are built and repaired.
May the SNDIF shelters function as a refuge, as the space in which second chances are born and new dreams are built.
Every girl or boy who finds a new family, a safe space, a hand to hold them, will be proof that we can still repair the country from its purest roots: the love that cares.
