Commented case 06 of 6 · illustrative
Signs of neglect at home and the route to CONANI
An illustrative, composite case: no fact, person or school in this account is real. A primary teacher observes sustained signs of neglect in two siblings: absences, tiredness, hunger and lack of supervision at home. The case walks the correct route — observe without judging, record, activate Orientación y Psicología, refer the matter to CONANI — and distinguishes neglect linked to poverty from the lack of protection the law requires to be reported.
Step by step
What happened
March — What can be seen from the classroom
A third-grade primary teacher observes two siblings, aged eight and ten, at a public school. Over six weeks: nine absences between the two of them, arrivals after the first period, a uniform that is never washed, and both of them very sleepy. The younger one takes two portions of the school breakfast whenever he can. One day, quite matter-of-factly, he mentions that they are left alone at home from five in the afternoon until the next morning.
The conversation the teacher does have
He does not question them about their home. He asks how they are, what they had for breakfast and whether they are sleeping well. He writes down what he observes, without adjectives: dates of absence, time of arrival, what the boy said in quotation marks. Zero interpretations.
The internal route
He takes the record to Orientación y Psicología (the school guidance and psychology service). The counsellor cross-checks it against the official attendance record and confirms the pattern. The principal calls the mother in, and she comes. The conversation is not a reproach: it is an honest question about what is happening and what they need.
The mother explains that she moved to a night shift and has nobody to leave the children with. There is no ill-treatment. There is a family with no support network and two children with no supervision at night.
What the school decides
The principal does three things at once, and none of them is closing the case because “the mother explained herself”:
- Puts on record in writing the absences, the contact with the family and the commitment to regular attendance.
- Refers the matter to CONANI (the National Council for Children and Adolescents), not as a complaint against the mother, but so that the support and protection the school cannot provide are activated: the children are alone at night, and that is a lack of protection whatever the cause.
- Connects the family with the Junta Local de Protección (the local child protection board) and with the available support, and adjusts what is within its own reach: guaranteed access to the school breakfast and reasonable flexibility about the arrival time for as long as the arrangement lasts.
What the school does NOT do
It does not sanction the children for lateness. It does not expose them in front of the class. It makes nothing conditional on payment or on documents. It does not visit the home on its own account or photograph anything. And it does not wait “to be sure”: it reports what it observed, which is exactly what the law asks of it.
June
An aunt took on the night-time care with support from the Junta Local. Absences dropped to one in two months. The younger boy still takes seconds at breakfast, and nobody looks at him strangely any more.
The legal reading
What the law protects here
What the law protects here
The Criminal Code punishes anyone who, having a duty of watch or care, abandons a child or adolescent in any place Art. 214Ley 74-25, and severely aggravates abandonment resulting in permanent injury or death Art. 215Ley 74-25. Ley 44-26 introduced an important clarification here: the maximum aggravating circumstance applicable to the father, the mother, the guardian or the teacher was limited to the case of abandonment followed by death; simple abandonment remains within the base offence. Also protective are the provisions on taking a child along in order to commit an offence Art. 219Ley 74-25 and on their improper removal or retention Art. 220Ley 74-25; in Ley 136-03 (the Code for the Protection of Children and Adolescents), the provision on failure to supervise children at home remains in force Art. 398Ley 136-03.
The school’s obligation does not depend on the cause. Every teaching professional and every school leadership, public or private, must report knowledge “or suspicion” of a violation of rights Art. 14Ley 136-03 Art. 11Ordenanza 05-2023, and failing to inform about deprivation or ill-treatment of a child is a criminal offence Art. 325Ley 74-25. Faced with repeated absences, the principal has a duty of his own: contact the family, put it on record, require the child’s return and, if that does not happen, refer the matter to CONANI Art. 47Ley 136-03.
Which decisions were protective, and why
- Recording facts, not judgements. Dates, times and verbatim phrases sustain a referral; adjectives weaken it.
- Calling the family in without accusing them. Neglect caused by the lack of a support network is not resolved by shaming a mother.
- Referring the matter to CONANI all the same. The existence of an understandable explanation does not remove the lack of protection at night, nor the duty to report Art. 14Ley 136-03 Art. 47Ley 136-03.
- Not sanctioning the children. Financial and collective sanctions, and denying food or access, are prohibited Art. 26Ordenanza 05-2023 Art. 48Ley 136-03.
The tempting shortcuts and what they risked
Closing the case after the mother’s explanation is the most human shortcut and the riskiest: it leaves the risk intact and exposes the school to an omission Art. 325Ley 74-25. Going to the home to check substitutes the school for the competent body. And treating it as a disciplinary matter — lateness, uniform — would have punished the children for what they do not control.
A transferable practice
Install the three-signal alert: when absences, changes in personal care and persistent hunger or sleepiness coincide in the same student, the case goes to Orientación y Psicología that same day.
The team’s commentary
What this case teaches
Español — The Spanish version is the reference text — the legal verification described in the audit report was carried out on it.
Audit report — the independent legal review of this material, with the errors we found and corrected (page in Spanish).
Comprehensive AI learning designed for educators, by educators. From awareness to mastery.