Pérez-Llorca, Iberdrola, ASEAF and Universidad Pontificia de Comillas promote foster care in Spain

Pérez-Llorca, Iberdrola, ASEAF and Universidad Pontificia Comillas have presented the guide "Conocer para proteger", a tool aimed at promoting foster care in Spain by identifying the rights and obligations of foster families, with the objective of strengthening legal certainty within the child protection system.

At an event held at Pérez-Llorca’s offices in Madrid, the collaborating organisations presented the Guide for foster families "Conocer para proteger". The technical tool has been designed to clarify the regulatory framework for foster care in Spain through a multidisciplinary analysis that underlines the strategic relevance of public-private collaboration.

The welcome remarks were delivered by Constanza Vergara, Partner and COO of Pérez-Llorca, who highlighted that the collaboration reflects how legal knowledge can be placed at the service of the most vulnerable groups.

Following the opening, Adriana de la Osa, President of ASEAF, presented the guide as a fundamental instrument for foster families to understand their rights and obligations, underlining the tool’s "enormous transformative potential". She noted that it will allow these families to stop being considered merely users of the system and become active agents within it. She also stated that there are currently nearly 20,000 children under guardianship living in residential centres, of whom more than 1,200 are under the age of six.

A legal framework for the protection of minors

The institutional opening continued with Patricia Bezunartea Barrio, Director General for Family Diversity and Social Services at the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, who reinforced the need to transform the protection system by promoting foster care as the only solution, stating:

"It is a priority to promote favourable environments so that all families can carry out their functions with the appropriate support. The figures speak for themselves regarding the scale of the challenge we face as a society; it is necessary to offer family-based solutions that avoid institutionalisation through positive parenting".

A multidisciplinary ecosystem: technical rigour and social reality

The meeting included a round table moderated by Myriam Cabrera, Director of the Chair for Children’s Rights at Universidad Pontificia Comillas, with the participation of María Salomé Adroher, member of the Chair for Children’s Rights at Universidad Pontificia Comillas; María Ferrándiz, Legal Adviser at ASEAF; and Jiead Benzaddi, a Social Education student and young person with personal experience in the foster care system.

During the discussion, María Salomé Adroher pointed to the need to give greater visibility to this legal figure:

"This guide advocates the need for greater public support and clearly sets out the statute of rights of families. Foster care is an essential element of the system, and collaboration between the public sector, the private sector and the third sector is what allows law to become a tool for real transformation".

For her part, María Ferrándiz highlighted that the value of growing up in a family lies in the creation of stable emotional bonds and a sense of belonging, elements that the guide protects by empowering families through legal knowledge.

Commitment to social impact

The closing remarks highlighted the need for institutions and professional firms to adopt a proactive approach to the management of social rights. Itziar Nacenta, Pro Bono Coordinator and Senior Manager of International Tax at Iberdrola, and Isabel Jiménez, Director of Sustainability at Pérez-Llorca, reaffirmed the strategic value of business law in this context.

Itziar Nacenta stated:

"This project demonstrates that when the legal sector, business, academia and the third sector sit at the same table, tools with real impact are generated. For Iberdrola, pro bono is a way of contributing to the company’s social dividend and a regular form of work capable of identifying structural gaps. This alliance combines Pérez-Llorca’s technical specialisation with our corporate vision to ensure that the law reaches where it is most needed".

Isabel Jiménez concluded by highlighting the importance of a cross-cutting approach in these projects:

"This guide is not an end point, but a starting point. The regulations in this area are complex and fragmented; for that reason, we have transformed that technical rigour into a useful tool for any entity or organisation wishing to strengthen the foster care system under the protection of the law".

Through this joint initiative, the four entities reinforce their commitment to a safer, more coordinated protection model centred on the best interests of the child. The guide "Conocer para proteger" can be downloaded here.