The Valencian regional government’s July 29 resolution, published in the Diari Oficial de la Generalitat Valenciana (DOGV), set out a reorganization of the judicial family meeting-point network. The map removed facilities from ten municipalities and added three locations, a net reduction of seven centers. The municipalities initially affected were Mislata, Manises, Paterna, Alfafar and Requena in Valencia; Sant Vicent del Raspeig, Torrevieja, la Vila Joiosa and Villena in Alicante; and Vila-real in Castellón. New centers were planned for Benidorm, Moncada and Onda. The network was described as comprising 21 judicial family meeting points.
Romina del Rey, the PSPV-PSOE spokesperson for Infancia y Adolescencia in the Corts Valencianes, called the move “inhumane” and warned that it would weaken protections for children and adolescents. She said the meeting points are impressive for more than 2,000 families who rely on court-ordered arrangements for safe, supervised contact between children and relatives, including in cases involving family conflict or gender-based violence. Del Rey criticized the Consell, led by Juan Fran Pérez Llorca of the PP, for what she described as a lack of sensitivity toward vulnerable families.
The plan was tied to a change in how the service would be managed. Under the previous arrangement, municipalities provided premises and covered certain costs; the Generalitat proposed a concerted-action model instead. The planned contract was to run from November 1, 2026, to October 31, 2028, with investment exceeding €21.6 million. The Generalitat said the new formula was intended to provide organizational, economic and care stability. The procurement process was still pending award when the government announced that existing centers would continue operating.
That announcement changed the immediate outlook for the July map. On October 20, consellera Elena Albalat told Vila-real mayor José Benlloch in a letter that the town’s judicial family meeting point would remain open, reversing the plan to transfer its service to Onda. The Conselleria said all family meeting points then operating in the Valencian Community would be maintained, while three additional locations remained planned. San Vicente del Raspeig also reported confirmation that its local center would continue.
Vila-real’s council had opposed the proposed transfer before the reversal, unanimously backing continued operation in the town at an August plenary session, independently of any new center in Onda. It asked the Conselleria to provide the administrative file and cover the premises’ costs. Social Services councillor Toni Marín said the council had received neither the file nor a response to its request. After the Generalitat’s announcement, the municipality continued seeking an explanation for the original decision.
Professional and political criticism also focused on the criteria behind the redistribution. In a statement on October 16, the Colegio Oficial de Psicología de la Comunitat Valenciana asked the Directorate-General for Children and Adolescents to explain the territorial, technical and care-related criteria used to draw the new map. It noted that Vila-real and nine other municipalities had disappeared from the distribution published in the DOGV on July 29, and raised concerns about continuity of care for affected families. Del Rey has also called for consellera Elena Albalat to explain the rationale for the closures before the Corts.
Judicial family meeting points provide supervised visits and controlled handovers of children when courts require contact to take place under professional oversight. They are used in high-conflict family situations, including cases involving gender-based or vicarious violence. Reporting on the network has described high demand and pressure on staff handling complex cases. The proposed changes raised concerns about travel distances and capacity, while the Generalitat’s October decision preserved the existing network pending the new arrangement.
The closures also became part of wider political disputes over the treatment of minors in the region. Del Rey referred to previous actions by the Consell and its allies to block the arrival of unaccompanied minors from Ceuta, arguing that the family meeting-point changes reflected a broader disregard for vulnerable children. The debate echoes national disagreements over regional responsibility for hosting migrant minors, including the situation described in this report on prosecutor intervention in Ceuta transfers.
