Transform children and adolescents into protagonists of their health care

Abstract

More and more naturally we recognize children and adolescents (NNA) as social actors capable of managing for themselves, according to their age and level of development, specific aspects of their lives; spaces in which we gradually and correlatively grant them greater scope for personal action. This paradigmatic change in the understanding of children and adolescents has been influenced by the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989. It meant moving forward from a until then welfare perspective that observed children and adolescents as subject objects of protection, as passive subjects, to the guardianship of responsible adults (doctrine of guardianship protection), to their consideration as subjects of law, that is, as holders and main agents in the exercise of their rights, with respect to which adults have duties of protection. orientation and guidance (doctrine of comprehensive protection). Reviewing the terms of the Convention and the adjustments made to the national legal framework, this article explores how this new model, based on human rights, is extended and in what terms, to the healthcare space.