Reforming Child Welfare in Perú: Stakeholder Perspectives on Deinstitutionalization Through a Structural Social Work Lens

This pilot study examines deinstitutionalization in Perú’s child welfare and protection system through a structural social work lens, drawing on 19 key informant interviews with caregivers, administrators, and advocates. Findings reveal that reform is constrained by four interrelated structural domains: fragmented governance, contested care paradigms, socio-cultural dynamics in family-based care, and limited system capacity. These challenges reflect structural contradictions embedded within policy, funding, and service delivery systems. While family-based care is widely endorsed, inadequate infrastructure, training, and support hinder implementation. These findings are interpretively bounded to the participating providers rather than generalizable to the national child protection system; they nonetheless indicate that care environments are heterogeneous and must be differentiated when assessing system readiness for reform. Implications highlight the need for structural transformation to ensure equitable, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed child welfare and protection systems.