Utopia building a possible horizon for children and adolescents in confronting racism

the 35th anniversary of Brazil’s Child and Adolescent Statute

Abstract

This article reflects on the 35th anniversary of Brazil’s Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA), emphasizing its importance as a civilizing milestone in defending the rights of children and adolescents in the country. From a critical and interdisciplinary perspective, it discusses the challenges of fully implementing the ECA amid historical and structural inequalities, especially those marked by racism, violence, and social exclusion. Recent data reveal the persistence of violations, such as preventable infant mortality, sexual violence, child labor, mass incarceration, and the impacts of necropolitics on young populations, especially black, indigenous, and peripheral communities. It also highlights the precariousness of children's and adolescents' mental health, the pathologization of adolescence, and the limits on access to integrated public policies. In this context, it proposes the strengthening of intersectoral networks and comprehensive protection policies that consider the diversity of childhood and adolescence, valuing their plurality and the role of youth in the present. The analysis also articulates the critique of structural racism with concepts from psychoanalysis and the ethics of alterity, highlighting the urgency of anti-racist practices in the social, educational, and clinical fields. The article concludes that the consolidation of the ECA requires a collective and ongoing commitment to the life, dignity, and rights of all children and adolescents, especially historically vulnerable groups, indicating that the utopia of comprehensive protection remains an ethical and political horizon and that it is already underway.