El menor ante las crisis familiares

Abstract

This chapter is included in the book Protección de menores en el Derecho Civil español (Protection of Minors in Spanish Civil Law), edited by Professor Manuel Serrano Ruiz-Calderón, with contributions from other members of the Civil Law Department at the Complutense University of Madrid. This is a bilingual work, written in both English and Spanish. The second edition, published in 2021, updates the 2018 first edition by incorporating all legislative changes related to the protection of minors in situations of violence, as well as the legal framework on disability. The work addresses the topic of minors under protective care, with a strong legal focus, particularly within the field of Civil Law and more specifically Family Law. It explores the legal status of children and adolescents and their protection in situations of vulnerability, disability, dependency, violence, or family breakdown. It is intended for students, academics, and legal professionals, but also for practitioners in related disciplines such as social work, psychology, or sociology, offering an in-depth legal analysis of these issues. The chapter is structured around key aspects of family crisis situations and their legal implications for children. It begins by defining the concept of family crises and examines the right of children to be heard in parental separation proceedings. It then delves into the complexities of parent-child relationships, focusing on the exercise of parental responsibilities, including shared custody, positive parenting, co-responsibility, and mediation. The chapter further analyses the exercise of these responsibilities in contentious proceedings, and the implications of custody decisions for the allocation of the family home. Finally, it addresses the child’s right to maintain contact with both parents, with particular attention to supervised contact centres (Puntos de Encuentro) and the role of parenting coordinators.