At an event held at Pérez-Llorca’s headquarters in Madrid, partner organisations presented the “Conocer para Proteger” Guide for foster families. This technical tool has been designed to clarify the regulatory framework for foster care in Spain through a multidisciplinary analysis that highlights the strategic importance of public-private partnership.
Pérez-Llorca COO and partner Constanza Vergara opened the event, emphasising that this collaboration demonstrates how legal expertise can be put at the service of the most vulnerable groups.
Following the opening, Adriana de la Osa, President of ASEAF, presented the guide as an essential tool to help foster families understand their rights and obligations, highlighting its “enormous transformative potential” and noting that it will enable these families to move beyond being seen merely as service users and become active participants in the system. She also pointed out that there are currently around 20,000 children in the care system, 1,200 of whom are under the age of six.
A legal framework for the protection of children
The institutional opening continued with Patricia Bezunartea Barrio, Director-General for Family Diversity and Social Services at the Spanish Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, who emphasised the need to transform the protection system by promoting foster care as the sole solution, stressing that:
“It is a priority to create environments that enable all families to fulfil their roles with the appropriate support. The figures speak for themselves regarding the scale of the challenge we face as a society; we must provide family-based solutions that prevent children from being placed in care through positive parenting.”
A multidisciplinary ecosystem: technical rigour and social reality
The event featured a roundtable discussion moderated by Myriam Cabrera, Director of the Chair in Children’s Rights at Universidad Pontificia Comillas, with the participation of María Salomé Adroher, a member of the Chair in Children’s Rights at Universidad Pontificia Comillas; María Ferrándiz, Legal Adviser at ASEAF; and Jiead Benzaddi, a student of Social Education and a young person with personal experience of the care system.
During the event, María Salomé Adroher highlighted the need to raise the profile of this legal concept:
“This guide highlights the need for greater public support and clearly sets out families’ rights. Foster care is an essential part of the system, and collaboration between the public, private and third sectors is what enables the law to become a tool for real change.”
María Ferrándiz went on to emphasise that the value of growing up within a family lies in the formation of stable emotional bonds and a sense of belonging – elements that the guide safeguards by empowering families through legal knowledge.
Commitment to social impact
The end of the session focused on 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 corporate legal practice in this context. Itziar Nacenta said:
“This project demonstrates that when the legal sector, the business world, academia and the third sector come together around the same table, they can develop tools that make a real difference. For Iberdrola, pro bono work is a way of contributing to the company’s social impact and a standard way of working that helps to identify structural gaps. This partnership combines Pérez-Llorca’s technical expertise with our corporate vision to ensure that the law reaches those who need it most.”
Isabel Jiménez concluded by highlighting the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in these projects:
“This guide is not a destination, but a starting point. The regulations in this area are complex and scattered; we have therefore transformed this technical rigour into a useful tool for any organisation or body wishing to strengthen the foster care system within the framework of the law.”
Through this joint initiative, the four organisations are strengthening their commitment to a safer, more coordinated model of protection that is centred on the best interests of the child.
The “Conocer para Proteger” guide can be downloaded here (only available in Spanish).