Children in the care system: subjective wellbeing and the centrality of their rights

Abstract

The foreword to Law 14/2010 of 27 May on Rights and Opportunities in Childhood and Adolescence “recognises the right of all minors to receive the comprehensive care necessary for the development of their personality and wellbeing in the family and social context”. Likewise, article 1 states that the purpose of this law is to promote the personal and social welfare of children and adolescents, and to promote the actions of prevention, care, protection and participation directed towards them, in order to guarantee the exercise of their rights, the assumption of their responsibilities and the realisation of their overall development. Government is thus responsible for guaranteeing the rights of children who are in care. But what do these children and adolescents think about the fulfilment of these rights? And how does this affect their evaluation of their subjective wellbeing? Based on a case study from the Equip d’Atenció a la Infància i l’Adolescència (EAIA) [The Children and Adolescents Care Team] in the Vallès Occidental area and using a sequential mixed method design, this paper demonstrates, on the one hand, the impor-tance of the perception that these rights are guaranteed when evaluating the subjective wellbeing of children and adolescents in care; and on the other, that the perceived lack of these rights was a common thread in all the interviews carried out. Finally, the paper discusses the resulting need to establish mechanisms to guarantee the rights of children in the care system.