Decent work and social protection for young people leaving care. Country mapping report: México

Mexico has legislation for the care and protection of children and young people in care and a specific government department with oversight and responsibility (DIF). Children and young people in care are guaranteed education, housing, food, health services and legal support provided through public and private Social Welfare Centres who are also responsible for preparing young people for leaving care. There is a lack of reliable, accurate and up-to-date government statistics on the number of children in care and virtually no information on care leavers, but this is being addressed through recent legislation that obliges the State to design a national information system and it is in the process of creating and consolidating local databases. Educational participation above basic elementary level is low in Mexico for the general population and this is likely to be even more acute for care leavers, though data on their educational qualifications and pathways after leaving care was not available.
Unemployment and underemployment amongst young people are major issues as is lack of work experience, which is a key barrier for young people to find employment. As a result, young people are hugely overly represented in the informal job market which is poorly paid, insecure and outside the jurisdiction of labour laws. There is a lack of policy specifically addressing the employment of care leavers. However, there are
some developments, such as the 2015 DIF Model of Residence discussed above. Greater powers need to be accorded to DIF through legislation, so that it is a legal requirement for other agencies and organizations to respond to and provide support and services as required by DIF for children and young people in and leaving care. This could facilitate better integrated working between placement institutions and the education and business sectors, to ensure better provisions for young people in care and better preparation for them in the run up to leaving care.