The lack of child protection from the moment of parental break-up to when it is brought before the courts

Abstract

In the case of parental break-up (marital or not), current Spanish legislation and its application in practice provide inadequate support to the most vulnerable members of the family, i.e. minor children and adult children with disability. This is due to the fact that there are no provisions for protection until a court ruling is issued on the issue ex parte. This means that during a certain period, from the moment of the break-up of the parents to when the issue appears before the courts (this possibly being several months, during which there is a real «legal limbo»), the rights of the children are completely ignored and parent-child relations with the parent who does not have custody de facto unfairly damaged by the other parent. It is thus of imperative importance that there be a legal response in order to protect the rights of minor children and adult children with disability and their psychological and emotional welfare, and that a profound awareness amongst judges, prosecutors and lawyers in this area be brought about.