Family strengthening, for all?

Abstract

By means of the epistemology of intersectionality, three categories are brought together and questioned in the implementation of public policies for family strengthening in the child protection system: childhood, gender and disability. Women with disabilities, considered strangers to traditional hegemonic and patriarchal mandates, challenge the exercise of motherhood under criteria that are overvalued and demanded compared to women with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities. They challenge the prevailing mandate of hegemonic motherhood, which does not conceive of other designs for the exercise of the constitutional and conventional right to family life. States have the obligation to design support systems (arts. 12 and 19 CRPD) so that women with disabilities are not separated from their children because of their disability. Children and adolescents have the right not to be discriminated against because of the condition/situation of their parents (art. 2 CRC) and to be raised by them (art. 9). Support systems should be effective public policies for strengthening families so that children can remain in the care of their mothers in accordance with their best interests and so that mothers can exercise their maternity on an equal footing with other persons, as mandated by the Constitution.