Sully Santos de Uclés is an international child protection consultant with more than 30 years of experience supporting governments, UNICEF, international donors, and civil society organizations in strengthening child protection systems and advancing care reform across Latin America. Her work focuses on preventing unnecessary family separation and promoting high-quality family- and community-based care, with specialized expertise in alternative care, family reintegration, adoption, and case management reform grounded in a rights-based approach. She brings over two decades of senior public-sector leadership experience from Guatemala, where she held strategic roles within the Office of the First Lady, the Secretariat of Social Welfare, and the National Council of Adoptions, contributing to national reforms to strengthen state capacity and safeguard children’s rights.
Sully has also directed child protection departments within non-governmental organizations, leading large-scale community-based and social development programmes for children and families. Her technical experience includes workforce mapping, competency standard development, residential care transitions, and the design of operational guidelines for professionals. She has led national workforce mapping processes in Mexico, Bolivia, and El Salvador, advised the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare on national case management guidelines, and supported UNICEF Mexico and DIF in developing professional competency frameworks. She is currently advising on the implementation of the Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform, led by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and supports a pilot in Chile focused on transitioning residential services to family- and community-based care models. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Educational Innovation, and is based in Guatemala.