El bienestar social de la infancia y los derechos de los niños

Abstract

Children’s welfare and well-being is taken for granted. Nevertheless, the children’s «best interest» is an adultist definition and interpretation, also influenced by social conventions determining the suitable space and roles for children in the society. Childhood well-being and welfare must be something more than an illusion, neither a «gracious grant» from adults, since it constitutes a right for children as human beings. In this article the welfare notion and the welfare states development are analysed in one hand, and the sociological dimension of childhood as a social phenomenon and children as a minority group and as social actors, in the other hand. Then, both concepts are related to, and different ways for social policies with a view to children’s welfare are suggested, in order to treat children fairly.