Spain's Social Rights ministry drafts law on single-parent families

Spain's Ministry of Social Rights, led by Pablo Bustinduy, began work on legislation to recognise single-parent families, known in Spanish as "monomarental" families, headed by one adult, most often a mother.

The aim was to give these households an official legal status and extend to them protections similar to those long enjoyed by large families (familias numerosas), which receive benefits such as discounts on public services, education and transport. Single-parent households had campaigned for years, arguing that they face a higher risk of poverty and have only one income to cover childcare and housing costs, yet had no equivalent recognition.

The draft built on earlier government commitments to update family policy and on demands from associations representing single-parent families. It mattered because it sought to base support on a family's circumstances rather than only on the number of children, and it set the stage for later plans to create an official status with comparable perks.