Many complaints regarding the following are dealt with: in schools, the shortage of human resources (teaching and non-teaching staff) and materials; refusal to give financial assistance for various educational goals (schooling beyond the compulsory age, purchasing textbooks); refusal to provide certain supplementary school services free of charge (transport, school meals, etc.); grants, the poor state of educational facilities; student admission procedures; punishments given to students; violence in schools and the information that schools provide to parents.
The Office acts to support inclusive education for children with disabilities, thus implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It also takes action on inadequate attention paid to students with learning disabilities (students with dyslexia, affected by attention deficit disorder, etc.).
The most common complaints are about the treatment received by children in children’s homes; the length of time taken for fostering and/or adopting procedures; both in Spain and in other countries; the lack of resources and programmes to support families and children with specific problems; extended stays in children’s homes despite the law prioritising foster care.
The complaints in this area relate to determining the age of unaccompanied foreign minors; statement of abandonment and scope and cessation of care/custody orders, problems in the documentation of legal residence; transfers of minors between Autonomous Communities; Central Registry of unaccompanied minors; repatriations and child victims of trafficking.
Many of the complaints relate to delays in judicial proceedings affecting minors, complaints concerning minors who are victims of ill-treatment and sexual abuse; parental abduction; treatment in young offender detention centres; and the administrative responsibility for the child.
