3
Founders
young graduates of state protection
2017
Formal constitution
after two years of organizing
6 years
Driving the law
from 2019 to 2025, without pause
Approved
Law 2479 of 2025
“Children of the State”
Between 2015 and 2017, three young graduates of the Colombian State protection system —Jhon Eduar Angulo, Maicol Londoño and Henrry Quiñones— turned their experience into a cause. They decided to found an initiative to support those who, like them, faced alone the transition from institutionalization to adult life, a critical and neglected stage.
Their purpose: that no graduate of the system should have to face life without support. From empathy and lived experience, they denounced the State's lack of preparation and the absence of networks that would allow them to fully integrate into society. Their work seeks to build paths of autonomy, dignity and opportunity for a historically excluded population.
We are an organization that has overcome the learning curve and is now in a stage of growth, strengthening its advocacy across different programmatic lines. Our leadership has made us a reference nationally and across Latin America.
This has led us to be invited to different advocacy and decision-making spaces that contribute to transforming care systems for children, adolescents and young people with lived experience in institutional care.
We are a new voice for the transformation of care systems in Colombia and for accompanying adolescents and young people in their transition to an autonomous and independent life.
Tap each year to see the milestones that built the path toward Law 2479 of 2025.
To develop and strengthen capacities that enhance the individual and ease the transition of adolescents and young people from the protection system toward an autonomous, dignified and full life, promoting their integral development and effective access to labor, educational, mental health and housing opportunities, while advocating for public policies, institutional practices and community dynamics that guarantee the exercise of their rights, strengthen support networks and family capacities, and contribute to preventing the loss of parental care.
By 2030, to establish ourselves as a key articulating actor in Colombia for the transformation of alternative care models, promoting family-based practices and progressive autonomy for young people, and advocating for public policies that ensure dignified exits from the protection system.
In 2017, ASCEP was awarded First Place in the Civic Award for Social Innovation, recognizing our commitment to transforming care systems and defending the rights of adolescents and young people graduating from the protection system.
The interview after the award
The moment we won the Civic Award
To promote strategies that comprehensively improve the quality of life of adolescents and young people in transition or graduates of the protection system, fostering their autonomy, empowerment, access to rights and active participation in society.
Strengthen the leadership, advocacy and collective organization capacities of young people with experience in the care system. Promote youth networks at local, regional and national levels as platforms for action, support and mobilization.
Source: ICBF — Mission Information System (SIM), as of January 31, 2024.
Children and adolescents in administrative processes (PARD) in Colombia
children and adolescents in declaration of adoptability
Children and adolescents adopted between 2021 and 2024
≈ 24% of those in declaration of adoptability — the gap that sustains the need for accompanied graduation.
Adolescents and young people between 14 and 28 years old, under State protection or already graduated, in basic or higher education processes, who require accompaniment and support in building capacities and strengthening life skills, psychosocial skills, and job preparation and connection.
14 – 28
years old
We are a group of people who graduated from the State Protection System who, from our own experience, work to transform how the State approaches the care of adolescents and youth in Colombia.
Director
Communications
Workshop Facilitator
We believe in the value and ability of our founding members and team, our greatest asset. Teamwork is the key force to reach our goals.
We build relationships based on two-way trust, dialogue and respect, essential for living with the diversity of beneficiaries, allies and donors.
We fulfill our obligations with efficiency, discipline and solidarity. We believe in equal opportunity regardless of gender, ethnicity, beliefs or social position.
If you share our vision, we invite you to join as an ally, volunteer or donor.
We promote the autonomy and leadership of adolescents and young people with experience in State protection, recognizing them as rights holders and protagonists of change. Through family intervention and comprehensive accompaniment models, we foster their social inclusion and lead reforms to the alternative care system.
Promote structural reforms in the alternative care system to improve exit processes. Defend rights through advocacy actions, resource mobilization and free legal counsel. Promote the recognition of graduates as a group with specific rights and differentiated needs.
Support the development of programs and public policies based on good practices, centered on the well-being of graduates. Propose standards for independent living and support services that guarantee a dignified and sustainable transition, including vocational training and job placement.
Monitor the impact of programs developed by and for graduates. Generate technical and empirical evidence to guide public policy and international cooperation decisions. Continuously evaluate and adapt institutional actions to ensure impact and relevance.
Communications
Accountant
We defend people's right to exercise their freedom within the law, keeping a balance between rights and responsibilities.
Committed to the Sustainable Development Goals
