The Prosecutor's Office investigates whether there are irregularities in the management of aid to former wards of the old DGAIA

BarcelonaIn March, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office requested information from the Anti-Fraud Office regarding the investigations being carried out into the former General Directorate of Childhood and Adolescence (DGAIA) and the alleged irregularities in the granting and control of economic and housing benefits received by former foster care youth. L'ARA has been able to confirm that the Special Prosecutor's Office against Corruption and Organized Crime is investigating the case, albeit in a still very "incipient" stage of proceedings.

The public prosecutor's office must analyze the records of the former foster care youth one by one to check if there is any type of crime and if the criminal act can be attributed to someone specific. One of the important issues that the public body must resolve is to determine whether there was a simple lack of control by the administration in supervising these benefits, due to a lack of organization and staff, or whether there is conduct that can be classified as constituting a crime.

The case broke out in January 2025, when L'ARA –and Octuvre– uncovered the complaint from a third sector worker who had detected irregularities in the economic and housing benefits affecting former foster care youth. In one case, for example, a young person was receiving both benefits, when they had been living and working in Valencia for months. Even, the foundation responsible for managing the aid had moved the young person to a different apartment, claiming they were looking for work, when, in reality, they had been working outside of Catalonia for months.

When the worker alerted their superiors, they urged them not to "expose the malpractice and the misappropriation of public funds." Subsequently, in March, this newspaper reported that there were entities in the province of Girona that were deceiving the administration with "phantom places." Three female workers reported that an entity, despite having empty places in its apartments to accommodate young people, charged the Generalitat as if the homes were full. This was done, according to the testimonies, by "falsifying the signatures of young people" to make it appear that they "continued to be served," meaning, that they still lived in the apartment and that the entity was working closely with them, even though it was not true.

Two files

Precisely, Antifrau currently has two ongoing investigations in relation to this case. Even though the Prosecutor's Office requested information and is investigating it, Antifrau continues with its actions. The first investigation refers to the actions of the administration and the officials of the DGAIA in the management of these benefits.

In this regard, the Court of Auditors, in June 2025, produced a report that concluded that the Department of Social Rights paid 167.56 million euros improperly through economic benefits during the period 2016-2024. These improper payments, according to the auditing body, "do not only respond to administrative errors", but to "structural problems of transparency and governance" and therefore could lead to "administratively and judicially prosecutable facts". Of these 167 million, 4.7 million were related to the reported case because they were improper payments to former wards.

The other investigation by Antifrau involves the entities that manage these benefits. Here, according to what ARA has been able to learn, there is more room to maneuver.

This Friday afternoon, the initial whistleblower, who is a protected person by Antifrau, will testify before the commission created in Parliament to investigate the alleged irregularities of the DGAIA. He will do so behind closed doors and accompanied by the protection unit of the office directed by Josep Tomàs Salàs. Afterwards, at 5 p.m., Maria Teresa San Miguel, former head of service of the Area of Protected and Formerly Protected Young People, will appear.

The scandal of sexual exploitation for months of a minor under administrative protection and the alleged irregularities reported at the beginning of 2025 led the Government of Salvador Illa to reformulate the DGAIA and create a new body, the new Directorate General for the Prevention and Protection of Children and Adolescents (DGPPIA), focused more on prevention and without the economic responsibilities it had until then. Thus, it no longer contracts places in residential centers where minors are housed, nor is it responsible for processing the benefits received by protected young people, which were managed through a contract with third-sector entities.