The president of the Institute for Children and Adolescents of Uruguay (INAU), Pablo Abdala, highlighted in Soriano the Government’s commitment to increase early childhood assistance by 17,000 places and increase the number of CAIFs, with greater infrastructure. The hierarch also highlighted the need to persuade families in vulnerable situations to take their children to specialized centers.
Abdala and the mayor of Soriano, Guillermo Besozzi, inaugurated the Magic Years child and family care center (CAIF) in Merceces, which is attended by 112 children, 72 at the initial level and 40 in appropriate experience rooms. 25 people work there, including educators and assistants.
“The CAIF Plan has been a State policy for 35 years, and this administration made the decision to allocate budgetary resources to finance new openings and new works,” he stressed.
The hierarch explained that in 2022 10 centers of this type were inaugurated, more than 60 were expanded and the mobile rooms were increased by 50. In addition, he mentioned that by 2023, 33 new centers will be opened, 27 in the public-private partnership modality and 6 in trust with the National Development Corporation.
In the morning, Abdala participated in the opening of the 8th Regional Seminar on Early Childhood, called “We continue to put on the shirt of early childhood.” On the occasion, he argued that the task of caring for children at this stage becomes more professional and that trained teams are needed and in permanent training.
The INAU president was also accompanied by departmental authorities from the Ministry of Social Development (Mides) and more than 200 educators from the institute.
In his oratory, Abdala highlighted that the objective is to promote the status of children and families as subjects of rights, and, for this, the early childhood policies and the CAIF plan fulfill a non-transferable task, with various angles, such as expanding the infrastructure, generate quotas, open new centers and expand existing ones.
The head of the INAU stressed that the Government allocated financial resources to obtain 17,000 more places in 2025. In this sense, he pointed out that 150 million dollars were allocated to early childhood policies, between the Mides and the INAU, a figure that will be distributed between 2022 and 2024, at a rate of 50 million per year.
Abdala added that there are also cultural components related to management and work with families, and therefore, social organizations and the State must persuade them that it is very important that these children attend the centers, because they will be cared for, they will receive socio-educational support and there will be a monitoring of the situation.
The seminar addressed the Comprehensive System for the Protection of Children and Adolescents against Violence (Sipiav) and the expansion of the CAIF Plan, among other topics, and presented a guide for the care of children between 0 and 3 years of age in situation of violence.
