The Office of the Attorney General warned of failures in the processes for the restoration of children’s rights at the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF). This has led to a large number of minors remaining for long periods in the protection system, beyond the timeframes established by law.
The situation has resulted in delays in the possibilities for those children to return to their families or to advance their right to have a family through the adoption process.
The public ministry reported that, based on the technical collection of information carried out in 2025, it identified institutional weaknesses, delays in the legal resolution of cases, lack of human talent for family defender teams, and limitations in initial care modalities in temporary homes and emergency centers.
Delays in different parts of the country
Cases were also identified in which proceedings are not carried out in accordance with the law and are not transferred to the competent judicial authorities, which prolongs uncertainty for minors.
According to the delegate for the Defense of the Rights of Children, Adolescents, the Family, and Women, the administrative processes for the restoration of rights with excessively long stays not justified by regulations, or without updates in the Mission Information System (SIM), are concentrated mainly in different parts of the country.
In Bogotá, it identified 7,963 cases; in Valle del Cauca, 4,594; and in Antioquia, 1,401, where there is a significant number of children awaiting a definitive resolution of their legal situation. Likewise, 1,411 proceedings with presumed excessive duration in 2023 were identified, of which 1,082 are under verification by the oversight body.
Faced with this scenario, judicial family prosecutors initiated a national intervention plan to accelerate the institutional response, sending requests to regional ICBF offices to immediately resolve the cases.
The Attorney General’s Office is also seeking for the ICBF to clean up the Mission Information System (SIM) and transfer cases to Family Courts when appropriate.
Because of these events, the Attorney General’s Office could initiate possible disciplinary actions in the event of noncompliance with the legal deadlines established by Law 1098 of 2006 and Law 1878 of 2018.
There are deadlines for the ICBF to define the situation of children
Law 1878 of 2018 established a period of six months from the moment the alleged threat or violation of rights becomes known for the administrative authority to define the legal situation of the minor, a deadline classified as non-extendable, except for exceptional extension.
The administrative process for the restoration of rights with follow-up has a maximum duration of 18 months, counted from the moment the facts become known until the declaration of adoptability or the closing of the case file due to reintegration into the family environment.
The same regulation established that failure to comply with those deadlines by administrative and judicial authorities constitutes a very serious disciplinary offense.
The ICBF serves nearly 1.7 million children throughout the country through protection, nutrition, and early childhood programs. There are 21,197 active rights restoration proceedings to protect minors who are victims of different violations, which involve institutional follow-up and, in some cases, placement in foster homes or protection centers.
Between January and September 2025, the entity opened 15,853 rights restoration proceedings to protect minors who were victims of sexual violence. Eighty-five percent of the victims are girls. Of the total cases of sexual violence recorded in 2025, 4,418 correspond to children between 6 and 12 years old and 1,549 to minors between 0 and 6 years old.