SOS Children’s Villages Spain contributes to global roadmap on parenting support

STRENGTHENING FAMILIES - 23 January 2026

The first Global Caregiver Forum: SOS Children's Villages Spain contributes to a roadmap on parenting support

SOS Children's Villages Spain participated in the first-ever Global Caregiver Forum, held on 15-16 January 2026 at CaixaForum Madrid. Co-organised by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), the event brought together governments, multilateral organisations, the scientific community, the private sector, and civil society organisations to strengthen coordinated action on parenting support and ensure it reaches all families who need it.

The Forum responded to a well-documented urgency: around one billion children and adolescents aged 2-17 experience some form of physical, emotional, or sexual violence each year, and three in four children aged 2-4 are routinely subjected to violent discipline.

SOS Children's Villages' own global research shows that violence is a key factor increasing the risk of children being separated from their families. The Global Report on Children's Care and Protection highlights a complex mix of family, societal, and systemic drivers of separation, with violence - including domestic and gender-based violence - emerging as a major contributor to family breakdown and placement of children into alternative care. Other interconnected pressures, such as economic hardship, forced migration, harmful social norms, and systemic failures in social protection, further undermine families' capacity to stay together and threaten children's right to grow up in a safe, stable, and nurturing environment.

Against this backdrop, the Forum highlighted that investing in parenting support and positive parenting is not an optional add-on, but a preventive measure with direct impact on children's protection, well-being, and mental health.

Parenting support interventions were also shown to be highly cost-effective, with estimated annual returns of up to 13% for every dollar invested in early childhood, in addition to substantial potential savings from reducing adverse childhood experiences.

The work of SOS Children's Villages - protecting children who have lost parental care and supporting families to prevent avoidable separations - reflects the core of the global child protection agenda.

Aldeas Infantiles SOS de España brought a unique perspective to international discussions as the only Spanish organisation working directly with children invited to the Forum. This representation is important because it ensures that the experiences of children and families on the ground - including the challenges they face and the solutions that work - are heard in high-level conversations that shape policies, funding, and priorities worldwide.

María del Mar Líndez, CEO of SOS Children's Villages Spain, spoke on a panel focused on parenting as a key protective factor in the lives of children and adolescents. She presented the organisation's model, which is grounded in quality care, stable relationships, and safe, supportive environments for children and young people. This approach aligns directly with the Forum's goal of scaling up caregiver support: protective care goes beyond services to include strong relationships with trusted adults and systems that support caregivers, especially when families face crisis, poverty, violence, or other forms of vulnerability.

Participation in the Forum allowed SOS Children's Villages Spain to share its expertise across the full continuum of care - from preventing family separation and strengthening families, to protecting children without parental care and supporting young people transitioning to adulthood, with services extending beyond the age of 18. Drawing on practical experience, SOS Children's Villages Spain informed global policy discussions on systems, financing, and standards, while strengthening its role as a trusted partner for dialogue with decision-makers in Spain.

The historic Global Caregiver Forum reinforced the importance of violence prevention and parenting support as key policy responses to reduce the need for family separation and, when separation is unavoidable, to ensure appropriate alternative care. Building on this momentum, SOS Children's Villages Spain will carry these messages into national advocacy, calling for quality care - especially for children who have lost, or may lose, parental care - to be recognised, funded, and prioritised as an essential public policy responsibility.

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