Almost none of the custody cases removed by the Generalitat end up in court: "The DGAIA is both judge and jury."

BarcelonaVery rarely does the decision to remove custody reach the courts, and when it does, the ruling almost always favors the administration. Only 4% of biological families who have custody removed DGPPIA (the acronym for the General Directorate for the Prevention and Protection of Children and Adolescents, which replaces the DGAIA))withdraws guardianship of the children They appeal against the administrative measure that in many cases means that the child must be admitted to a foster home or live with uncles or grandparents. And, according to data from the DGAIA, in nine out of ten cases they lose the legal battle because the judge upholds the decision of a but this is a snapshot that coincides with the most recent data provided by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ): of the 10,000 withdrawals of guardianships that are issued throughout the State each year, a thousand families resort to the courts and only in 2% of cases are the destitutions revoked by Marta Tortosa and counselor of the Catalan Bar Council (Cicac), it must be taken into account that if there are so few judicial resources, it is because the affected families "are vulnerable, without resources," and cannot afford a lawyer to file a claim. "Court lawyers can only intervene when necessary, and an administrative procedure against the DGAIA is not considered that," he points out in an interview with ARA. Regarding the decision-making process for withdrawing custody, Gellida criticizes: "The administration investigates the matter, issues the resolution, and also executes the agreement. In a state of law, we have always kept in mind that the law is made by one person, executed by another, and the one who convicts is the judiciary. Even in the criminal sphere, there is one judge who instructs and another." He concludes: "At the DGAIA, they do everything; what we want is for there to be a separation of powers."

Jurist Silvia Giménez-Salinas also wondered "how is it possible that the DGAIA can act as both judge and jury" at a recent conference on the DGAIA at the Barcelona Bar Association (ICAB), where she met with Gellida. Both are the authors of a report that the CICAC presented when Gellida was president, which called for the withdrawals to be carried out by judicial rather than administrative resolution. They maintain that with their proposal, families, and especially children, will have greater guarantees that the decision made about their future will be in their best interest.

A "long and bureaucratic" procedure

On the same day, Margarita Ribas, the vice-dean of the Bar Association of Public Prosecutors, pointed out that the procedures for recovering custody "are long and bureaucratic," and recounted the example of a father and the difficulties he encountered in recovering one of his two children, who is under guardianship and earns a salary of 480 euros. "What's happening is a failure of our society," Gellida stated in an interview with ARA, adding that "there are mothers who have had their children taken away because at five in the morning they are left alone to go clean houses."

"The interests of the minor are the most important thing, but who decides what those interests are?" Gellida asks. One of her proposals is for the minors involved to have their own lawyer to defend their interests, "which are not always the same as those of their families." To this end, they are working with the Generalitat (Catalan government) to ensure that public defenders can represent children and adolescents in these proceedings.

In fact, the article 118 of the LDOIA (Law on the Rights and Opportunities of Children and Adolescents) This type of lawyer has been in place since 2010, but no administration has ever implemented it. Their main function is inspection, responding to requests and complaints from minors in care, and elevating them to the appropriate authorities.

"Parents can't possibly find out that their guardianship has been withdrawn when they go to pick up their children from school and the DGAIA has taken them away," Gellida explained on the same day. In her opinion, a state-level reform would also be necessary, modifying the organic law of the judiciary to provide specialized judges to handle these cases.