The Socialist Group in the Cabildo of Lanzarote has presented a motion for the island institution to urge the Government of the Canary Islands to urgently reinforce the foster care system, with special attention to family foster care, which must prevail over residential care, as established by current legislation.
The spokesperson for the Socialist Group in the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Ariagona González, has denounced that currently, in the Canary Islands, more than 200 children under six years of age remain in residential care, instead of being in family environments, as provided for in the Organic Law on the Legal Protection of Minors. “It cannot be normalized that the lack of resources delays the right of minors to grow up in a family environment”, she pointed out.
According to González, this situation is due to two main factors: the decrease in the number of families available for temporary foster care and the lack of technical personnel in the regional administration to manage these processes with the necessary speed. “Both issues are closely related and require decisive action by the Government of the Canary Islands”, she added.
The PSOE recalls that it is not easy to take the step of offering oneself as a foster family, and that this effort, always generous and responsible, must be accompanied by an agile administration, which does not cause delays that discourage those who are willing to get involved.
For this reason, the motion presented proposes that the Cabildo urge the Government of the Canary Islands to adopt a battery of specific measures: reinforce and promote the Family Foster Care Program, adequately provide personnel to the General Directorate of Protection for Children and Families, expedite the procedures for covering vacancies and launch awareness campaigns to give visibility to these programs and encourage citizen participation.
Ariagona González also stressed that “the Canary Islands cannot demand solidarity from the rest of the State in matters of child protection if it is not exemplary in complying with its own powers. The protection of minors cannot be conditioned by the lack of planning or resources”.
