The Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, held a meeting this Thursday with the Coordinator of Minors at the General Prosecutor’s Office, Teresa Gisbert, «to continue addressing the work within the comprehensive framework of protection for children, adolescents, and young people against violence.» They also discussed «related aspects» of a decree being prepared by the Ministry to improve the reception system and the working conditions.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Youth and Childhood, the Minister presented the progress made in expanding the Organic Law on comprehensive protection for children and adolescents against violence (LOPIVI), «a pioneering law» that will be improved to safeguard the best interests of minors and address vicarious violence.
Likewise, they discussed aspects related to the Royal Decree on minimum standards for the reception system being prepared by the ministry.
Sources from the Ministry of Youth and Childhood indicated on Wednesday that the Government is finalizing a regulation to establish minimum conditions in the reception system for minors throughout the country. This regulation will set minimum thresholds for the number of workers and children in child care centers, establish mandatory inspections of their conditions, and even include a penalty system for non-compliance and irregularities.
This measure, which has been in the works for months, is seen as urgent following the murder of a 35-year-old social worker in a supervised housing facility in Badajoz by three minors. «What happened in Badajoz demands improvement in all areas,» emphasized the same sources.
The Ministry led by Minister Sira Rego anticipates that the draft of this decree will be completed within a week, with internal government procedures starting within two weeks to gather opinions and considerations from other ministries.
Currently, there are nearly 50,000 minors in the reception system, with about 26,000 in foster care and close to 23,000 in centers managed by autonomous communities. The reception system is universal, without distinction between foreign minors and Spanish nationals.
The initiative aims to elevate and improve the minimum standards of the reception system for minors, with input from unions, worker organizations in supervised centers, and associations of former supervised minors.
The goal is to strengthen the rights of minors and the working conditions of social and educational workers. For instance, there will be a mandatory inspection protocol by autonomous communities, with data to be reported to the Government as this is not currently a requirement for communities.
A penalty system will be established in case irregularities or non-compliance with minimum care conditions for children or workers are detected. The exact fines are still pending definition and will be finalized in the coming days.
The decree will also include a directive to move towards the «deinstitutionalization» of reception resources, promoting smaller facilities or family environments and moving away from the model of large centers, which are more prevalent in some regions like Madrid. For example, a plan was approved in the previous legislature to gradually transition towards foster care or smaller facilities.
Additionally, the decree will specify a minimum worker-to-center ratio and the number of residential spots for children to enhance the quality criteria of this essential service.
FUENTE