Thursday, January 5, 2023 | 3:55 p.m.
President Alberto Fernández announced the extension of the Universal Child Allowance (AUH) for children and adolescents without parental care, a benefit that will be extended to children and adolescents with disabilities throughout the country.
In this context, he asked this Thursday to pursue the “utopia of social equality”, he maintained that today Argentina is a country “in which the only privileged ones are the judges” and affirmed that, following the example of Eva Perón, his government works to make a country “where boys and girls are treated as subjects of law”.
“Evita lived in a country where the only privileged ones were the children, we are in a country where the only privileged ones are the judges. But we are going to be a country where the privileged ones are the boys and girls so that they are subjects of right”, explained the president effusively from the gardens of the former Palacio Unzué, a Mar del Plata building converted into a space for children that was partially recovered during the government of Néstor Kirchner and which, according to the words of the Head of State, “was abandoned to the good of God” during the administration of Mauricio Macri.
Fernández commented that the assistance measure adopted will make it possible for about “9 thousand little boys and girls” who are housed in care institutions to receive the AUH beyond their parental situation.
“What we are doing, has a single word, we are doing justice. If someone thinks that we are spending money, look, I am happy to spend money on social justice, there is nothing nicer than spending money on giving equality to the Argentine men and women”, said the president in one of the most applauded fragments of his speech.
Fernández reiterated that although “some say that everything is the same in politics”, there are differences between the competing models: “Some think that this is life. Someone dared to say that there are poor people everywhere, that we have to get used to it. Nothing is more indecent than being encouraged to live with poverty. Poverty is, for those who embraced politics, a permanent claim to the soul to end injustice.”
“As much as they tell us that we live in a fourth-class country, we live in a wonderful country. We have the best men and women. Despite whoever cares,” he concluded.
The expansion of the AUH
In order to guarantee access to social security benefits, the government will pay 100% of the value of the AUH monthly to children and adolescents without parental care and housed in residential care facilities, publicly or privately managed, or in family care arrangements such as foster families, transit, solidarity, and others.
The benefit will be extensive to children and adolescents with disabilities, if they have a current Unique Disability Certificate, who will also receive 100% of the AUH, indicates the information replicated by Télam.
To specify the measure, the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and Family (SENAF) will sign bilateral agreements with the 24 jurisdictions of the country, in which it will establish the information exchange modality and the corresponding administrative procedure.
In turn, the Anses will implement the deposit of the funds and, according to the age of the child or adolescent, the referents designated for them must take into account their opinion in relation to the destination of these funds.
In the event that the adolescent is included in the Accompaniment Program for the Discharge of Adolescents and Young People without Parental Care, the reference for the opening and administration of the bank account will be the same person who fulfills the role of companion.
It was pointed out that the funds may not be applied to items that must be faced by the residential or family care device, such as food, health, clothing, access to public services, transfers and other items.
