Chile's current legal instrument governing the system for the protection of children is the Juvenile Act (Nn° 16,618); this system is based mainly on the juvenile judges who, as already pointed out, take decisions on the future lives of children deemed to be "in an irregular situation"; they have the following options:
La norma jurídica que rige el sistema tutelar de menores vigente en Chile es la Ley de menores Nº 16618, basada principalmente en la acción del juez de menores, quien -como ya se ha mencionado- decide respecto de la vida futura de los llamados en "situación irregular", pudiendo: