Abstract

This paper aims to analyze, from a historiographical perspective, the relationship between Christian -inspired charitable institutions and the National Service for Minors (by its Spanish acronym, SENAME) during the last Chilean military dictatorship (19731989). The study starts from the premise that the ethos of modern charity was one of the main historical antecedents in the subsequent processes of building welfare states in Latin America. Thus, this paper reflects on the charitable institutional influences present in the SENAME during its first years of operation after its creation in 1979. As a hypothesis, it is proposed that the legal -institutional framework represented by SENAME allowed the coexistence of different institutions under the same regime of protection for children. As a result, charitable institutions (such as the Protectora de la Infancia) continued to play a significant role in the child protection system as the State withdrew from the social rights of children in need of protection.