Child Protection System in Spain and Valencia: Legal Framework and Competencies
Child Protection System in Spain and Valencia
20. Legal Framework and Competence of the Child Protection System in Spain. Special Reference to CV
Children are rights holders but are not autonomous citizens. They are in a time when it is necessary to protect and educate them. In addition to their inability to defend and exercise their rights and their weakness to any abuse, they are particularly vulnerable and therefore need all the protective force of legislation, administration, and society as guarantors of personal development. For all these reasons, modern societies have established mechanisms of substitution, with several extensions, for the work that genuinely corresponds generically to their parents.
Child protection includes a set of actions whose purpose is to intervene, preventing and correcting the lack of social situations in which a minor may find themselves, according to the circumstances and needs of each case.
Legally in Spain, this protection is determined by:
- The Civil Code Article 172 and following
- The Law on Adoption 21/87
- Law 1/96 to reform including the Legal Protection of Children
- Law 5/2000 on the criminal liability of minors.
In the Valencian Community (CV), it should be noted Decree 28/2009 and its amendment 93/2001, adopting protective measures in the community. Competence in child protection is exercised by autonomous bodies, therefore the Statute of Autonomy, together with the legislation and regulations on institutions and resources, determine these protection measures.
Organizational skills are essential for the various structures and institutions working to protect and defend the rights of children. However, excluding basic law, jurisdiction is reserved for the state. This means the government decides which legal institutions to implement and sorts procedures, resources, and structures into its territory (autonomous communities) to make them effective.
Some authors argue that a social system is fully democratic if it can worry about those, although minority groups, that are disadvantaged. In the case of minors, vulnerable as well, without having elected or chosen this situation. In CV, competences are attributed to the Generalitat (Valencian Government) and, by the principle of devolution, the exercise of territorial authorities in different directions today.
In CV, it should be noted the phenomenon of large numbers of foreign children who are being addressed by protective systems. This situation has meant having to accommodate resources to this new profile, which requires special attention: language, culture, etc.
Local entities in CV are competent to exercise the following functions:
- Prevention of lack of protection and uprooting
- Information, guidance, and counseling of children and family
- Assessment, intervention, and implementation of measures
Participation in Programs and Other Measures
Participation in programs fostering adoption, the design and evaluation of rehabilitation programs, and other necessary steps are crucial. These measures shall be exercised through municipal equipment or sea vessels. Additionally, any authority or person, especially those in their profession or function, who detects a possible risk or neglect of a minor, must turn to the authority or its agents closer to provide the subject with the immediate assistance required.
Other entities involved are the bodies of family integration, performing support, safeguarding, and mediation functions. The structure of these services and facilities is organized first by the Department of Social Welfare, which exercises powers related to policies for lifting the quality of life for all people of Valencia.
Second in place is the Regional Secretary of Social and Health Services, coordinating the actions of the various Conselleria (regional ministries) in this area and the provision of necessary services. The General Directorate of Social Services is the center directly under the Regional Secretary of Benefits Socio-health, which is responsible for proposing and implementing the general policies of social services, especially for the elderly and disadvantaged groups such as minors.
There is also the General Directorate of Social Integration of Disabled People, which accounts for exercising the functions of integral policy for the rehabilitation and treatment of people with disabilities and chronic illnesses, among these, we find children. Then we find the General Directorate of the Family, Child, and Adoptions, which is the management center responsible for developing, promoting, and implementing measures to ensure a comprehensive policy for the benefit of the family, the child, and adoption.
Finally, we have the General Directorate of Women, which is the management center required to develop, promote and implement measures to promote equality. The child is a very important asset in this case through education.
Territorial Organization and Values
Territorially, there is a regional branch of social welfare in each province of Valencia. These depend on the administrative centers mentioned above. In front of these territorial divisions is the Regional Director, with representation in the Department, who is the chief of all the services.
All entities and all actions are under the values that should underpin public social action, as the current brand autonomous law of social services are:
- Public accountability
- Solidarity and participation
- Prevention, planning, and evaluation of results
- Equality and universality
- Inclusiveness and integration
- Decentralization, deconcentration, and coordination.
Ultimately, both in Spain and in CV, all measures are aimed at improving child welfare and protection, through actions that serve to prevent and reduce situations of marginalization and social vulnerability of the child, from the steward involvement of local government, civil society, and public awareness itself.
“It is impossible to educate children wholesale; the school can not be a substitute for individual education.” – Alexis Carrel
“The best service we can render the afflicted is not to take away the burden, but instill the necessary energy to cope.” – Phillips Brooks