Care for elderly European immigrants in the Spanish Public Social Services System

Abstract

This chapter addresses the impact of European retirement migration on Social Services in Spain. Their early years as migrant retirees typically involve very limited contact with the healthcare system, and even less with the public Social Services system. Later, however, a number of factors acting together can place them in situations of acute social risk. As the years go by, physical dependence, cognitive deterioration, and unwanted loneliness, among other factors, can create a need for social workers to intervene. Cultural and linguistic barriers and migrants’ non-registration in the residential census make it difficult to establish a professional-user relationship. In order to better understand the relationship between European retirees and the Spanish social protection system, specifically Social Services, in-depth interviews were conducted with social intervention professionals and older retirees in the places on the Spanish coast with the longest tradition of receiving migrant retirees.