The foster care aims to ensure the full development of the personality of a minor when they, due to certain circumstances, cannot continue in their original family and the competent public entity of their Autonomous Community/City assumes their protection.
The modality of foster care will be determined based on the best interest of the child, taking into account their age and personal and family circumstances. Foster care can be residential or family-based, always prioritizing family measures over residential ones, if possible.
Both the Action Plan against the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in the Child Protection System, approved in the joint Sectorial Conference on Equality, Childhood, and Adolescence on May 5, 2022, and the State Action Plan for the Implementation of the European Child Guarantee include reinforced commitments in family foster care and the deinstitutionalization of children.
Therefore, the Ministry of Youth and Childhood conducted a study through the Tangente Consultancy, which compiled regional modalities and an international study of family foster care.
Compilation of regional modalities of family foster care and international case studies
Regarding the types of family foster care, article 173 bis of the Civil Code, after its wording given by Law 26/2015, of July 28, on the modification of the system for the protection of children and adolescents, establishes that family foster care can take place within the minor's extended family or a different family, which can be specialized in the latter case.
On the other hand, family foster care may adopt the following modalities depending on its duration and objectives:
- Emergency family foster care, mainly for children under six years of age, which will have a duration of no more than six months, while deciding the appropriate family protection measure.
- Temporary family foster care, which will have a transitory nature, either because reintegration of the minor into their own family is foreseen, or while a more stable protection measure such as permanent family foster care or adoption is adopted. This foster care will have a maximum duration of two years, unless the best interest of the minor advises the extension of the measure due to foreseeable and immediate family reintegration or the adoption of another definitive protection measure.
- Permanent family foster care, which will be established either at the end of the two-year temporary foster care period if family reintegration is not possible, or directly in cases of children or adolescents with special needs or when the circumstances of the minor and their family so advise.
On the other hand, the Organic Law 1/1996, of January 15, on the Legal Protection of Minors, partial modification of the Civil Code and the Civil Procedure Law, is amended by the Organic Law 8/2021, of June 4, on comprehensive protection of children and adolescents against violence (LOPIVI), which gives a new wording to article 20, which includes the figure of specialized foster care, understood as that developed in a family where one or some of the people who make up the family unit have special qualifications, experience, or specific training to perform this function regarding minors with special needs or circumstances, being able to receive compensation for this.
It is also established that specialized foster care may be full-time when determined by the Public Entity due to the special needs and circumstances of the child or adolescent to be fostered, whereupon the designated foster person or persons receive compensation for such dedication.
On the other hand, the ninth additional provision of the LOPIVI provides, regarding the Social Security of full-time specialized foster persons, that the Government will determine, by regulatory development, the scope and conditions of incorporation into Social Security of full-time specialized foster persons, for which the current Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration is working on the Royal Decree project regulating Social Security for full-time specialized foster persons, which is currently in the final stage of normative processing, and is expected to be approved by 2025.
The Law 26/2015, of July 28, on the modification of the system for the protection of children and adolescents, in its third additional provision, contemplates the need to establish common criteria for coverage, quality, and accessibility in the essential elements of the family foster care procedures. In that direction, work was carried out from the Observatory of Childhood, approving the document "Criteria for coverage, quality, and accessibility in family foster care", approved at the Delegate Commission of Social Services on October 2, 2019. Link to the document.
Criteria for coverage, quality, and accessibility in family foster care
Families interested in fostering minors in need of protection can apply in the competent public entities in child protection matters of the communities/autonomous cities where they reside.
You Will Be My Home
2019 Family Foster Care Campaign
Automatically translated with OpenAI from Spanish