Children’s services in Spain: a study of the organisation and implementation of children’s services in three regions in response to European recommendations
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-03-2016-0005 |
| Published date | 19 December 2016 |
| Pages | 300-316 |
| Date | 19 December 2016 |
| Author | Almudena Moreno,Alfonso Lara Montero |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Children's services,Sociology,Sociology of the family,Children/youth,Parents,Education,Early childhood education,Home culture,Social/physical development |
Children’s services in Spain: a study
of the organisation and implementation
of children’s services in three
regions in response to European
recommendations
Almudena Moreno and Alfonso Lara Montero
Almudena Moreno is a Professor
at the Department of Sociology
and Social Work, University of
Valladolid, Segovia, Spain.
Alfonso Lara Montero is Policy
Director at European Social
Network, Brighton and Hove, UK.
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to map the current organisation and implementation of children’s
services in three regions of Spain, to identify strengths and gaps and to suggest proposals for improvement in
line with European recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach –Spain features a decentralised approach when it comes to the
organisation of children’s services. This means that relevant themes for children’s services refer to
decentralised policies, which diverge within the regions in the country and therefore to illustrate this the
authors focus on three specific regions. The study used an exploratory case study design and relied on
qualitative methods, including the answers to open questionnaires provided by senior civil servants at key
regional child welfare agencies, children’s services directors and service providers.
Findings –The main finding from the review of the legislation and the answers to the questionnaires
is that public social servi ces still follow an assista nce logic rather than a social i nvestment approach in
regards to children’s services. Although a significant development of laws and policies has taken place,
ensuring the implementa tion, monitoring and eva luation of programmes a nd services for children
remains a challenge.
Research limitations/implications –The answers provided by the respondents may be subject to
limitations imposed by the agencies for which they work. A general disadvantage of qualitative research is the
use of subjective criteria to interpret the relevance of the results. The study was further challenged by
differences across regions when it comes to their legal and policy frameworks, development of provisions
and implementation and outcomes’evaluation.
Practical implications –The findings could be used to as sess the state of play in rega rds to
children’s services across the regions studied and beyond with a focus on children being placed at the
centre of public services’intervention, using a comprehensive approach and promoting critical thinking and
reflective practice.
Social implications –The three selected case studies provide additional insight into policy and legal
developments, implementation and evaluation of activities and efforts to improve policy and practice in
children’s services.
Originality/value –This paper contributes to the evaluation of the current situation of children’s services in
Spain from a decentralised perspective with the aim to facilitate changes to improve planning, implementation
and evaluation of children’s services and secure better outcomes for children.
Keywords Spain, Child welfare agency, Children’s services, Investing in children, Policy framework,
Welfare regime
Paper type Case study
Received 9 March 2016
Revised 27 May 2016
Accepted 6 July 2016
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VOL. 11 NO. 4 2016, pp. 300-316, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-6660 DOI 10.1108/JCS-03-2016-0005
Introduction
The aim of this research study, which took place between March 2013 and March 2016, was to
analyse how the key principles on access to quality services of the European Commission’s
Recommendation “Investing in children, breaking the cycle of disadvantage”were implemented
in 14 European countries, with Spain being one of these countries. This exercise helped us to
identify strengths and gaps and suggest proposals for improvement in line with the European
recommendation. The result of this three year project was the publication of the study “Investing
in children’s services, improving outcomes”in May 2016 with a cross-country analysis,
14 country profiles and recommendations regarding how children’s services should be
developed to be aligned with the European Commission’s Recommendation.
Spain features a decentralised approach to the organisation of children’s services and therefore,
relevant themes for children’s services covered in this research may diverge within the country
itself. In order to illustrate this, the study focussed on three regions –Catalonia, Galicia and
Andalucía. The study aims to map and assess the current state of play in regards to the
implementation of services by the agencies responsible for children’s wellbeing and to document
how these findings could be used in policy-making and strategic planning processes in social
services for children in Spain.
General review
According to the Europe 2020 Strategy, there is a need to develop integrated strategies to
improve children ’s opportunities al ongside the three pi llars of the Europea n Commission’s
Recommendation “Investing in children”: access to resources, access to quality services and
child participation (European Commission, 2013a; European Social Network, 2013). In Spain,
the National Actio n Plan on Social Inclus ion 2013-2016 addr esses the need to moder nise
social services and implement strategies that effectively r educe unemploym ent and child
poverty (Ministe rio de Sanidad, Ser vicios Sociales e Igualdad, 2013). S pain features a
decentralised ap proach to the organisation of c hildren’s services and therefore this requires the
development of integrated and coordinated strategies between local, regional and national
administrations when it comes to the development of social services for children. Therefore, key
challenges for social services in Spain, which have been highlighted by the European
Commission and the Sp anish government, include t he need to reduce the higher risk of p overty
and social exclusi on amongst childre n, and the design and effective impl ementation of qua lity
services for disadvantaged children.
With the aim to contri bute to the implement ation of the Europe an recommendation ,
we mapped the organisation and implementation of children’s services in 14 countries,
amongst them Spain, where we focussed on the situation in three regions with responsibilities
for the development and implementation of children and social policies. Therefore, the findings
highlighted in this paper are part of a comparative study that has been conducted in
14 European countries. The exclusion among children and adolescents are complex matters
that should not be ad dressed uni-dime nsionally from an economic perspe ctive, but rather
through a comprehensive approach including financial support, access to work and
reconciliation of work and family life; the participation of children in policies affecting them
and quality children’s services (early childcare, healthcare, education, housing and alternative
care) (European Commision, 2013b; Janta, 2014; Gaitán Muñoz, 2015; Greve, 2012; López
Pelaéz and Segado Sánchez Cabezudo, 2015).
In the last few years, extensive literature has been produced on the effects of the economic crisis,
family changes and family policy on child poverty and the wellbeing of children in Europe
(Collishaw et al., 2004; Bradshaw et al., 2007; Bradshaw and Richardson, 2009; Bradshaw,
2014; Renes and Lorenzo, 2010). This growing scientific and government interest has le d to
several studies and reports by international organisations, which measure the objective and
subjective dimensions of children’s wellbeing ( UNICEF, 2013; OECD, 2009; European
Commission, 2013a; Tarki, 2010). For instance, there are well-known papers on the positive
impact which early childhood education has on the reduction of education inequality and
improvement of children’s skills and competences in the various stages of the life cycle
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