The new director of the DGAIA will be the manager of social services at the Barcelona Provincial Council.

BarcelonaThe executive council of the Government will appoint Josep Muñoz Luque as the new director of the General Directorate of Child and Adolescent Care (DGAIA) this Tuesday at its weekly meeting. replacement of the dismissed Isabel Carrasco, who has only been at the helm of the entity responsible for protecting minors who cannot live with their biological family for six months. Muñoz was until now the manager of Social Welfare Services at the Barcelona Provincial Council.

At the end of the government meeting, the spokesperson, Silvia Paneque, justified the changes at the DGAIA because the executive is seeking a "more managerial profile" to "reorganize" the human resources area and address "very diverse needs," without assessing the reasons for the dismissal. "It is a very sensitive area due to the increase in unaccompanied minors, which has caused the general directorate to face additional challenges last year" and is experiencing a "stressful situation," Paneque stated at a press conference, adding that the executive has "analyzed" the current situation and decided that "a different profile" is required.

The dismissal of Carrasco and his deputy, Joan Mayoral, surprised the sector, which lamented that they were dismissed only half a year after taking office and without having been able to develop and consolidate their project. Yesterday afternoon, when the rumor of Muñoz's name was circulating, his appointment was met with skepticism in the sector, as he is not a professional linked to the neglect and guardianship of vulnerable minors. In this sense, professionals working around the DGAIA explained to ARA the need to hire a manager with a technical profile and familiarity with the rights of minors so as not to waste any more time and address all of the entity's urgent issues.

Muñoz, a social worker and sociologist by training, has spent part of his professional career in the welfare department of the Barcelona Provincial Council, first as a technician and later as the head of the unit. This area manages, among other things, the Respir program, which helps family caregivers of dependent persons receive rest.

Sources from the Department of Social Rights and Inclusion justified the dismissal of Carrasco and Mayoral due to a "lack of understanding" with the leadership of the regional ministry headed by Mònica Martínez Bravo, rather than due to management errors.