The opportunities for children in care to have a full, independent and active adult life in society are much more limited than for the rest of the population. They are one of the population subsets suffering greater inequality of opportunity and risk of social exclusion in the member states of the European Union.
In Spain, there are 35,000 children in state care, with 13,700 of them living in institutions of which 23% are between 16 and 17 years of age.
Considering the responsibility assumed by society and the state in relation to its children, and the cost of assuming such responsibility, the results are very poor: only 32% of children in care are in the right school year, and 52% do not finish Compulsory Secondary Education (doubling an already dramatic figure among the general population).
The identification of solutions to this challenge focuses on interventions that achieve a similar level to the rest of the population in relation to:
- Academic achievement in general.
- Emotional and material wellbeing, including levels of self-esteem, empathy, emotional autonomy and relational skills.
- Economic and social opportunities for independence from care.
- Opportunities for political and social participation.
- A resilience capacity that allows children to face the challenges of adult life.
- Good physical and mental health.
Alberto Rodríguez, Alicia Castillón, Amparo Porcel, Belén Albizu, Carlos Villagrasa, Carme Montserrat, Elisenda Xifré, Glòria Figuerola, Javier Martínez, Jesús Palacios, Jorge Fernández del Valle, José Luis Escobar, Josefina Fernández, Josep Cortada, Maite Calleja, Marc Simón, María José Palacios, Mercè Santmartí, Montse Torredeflot and Pilar Núñez.