The Spanish Federation of Large Families (FEFN) has received with deep unease the suppression of the legal recognition of large families in the new Families Act.
The new law erases at a stroke the denomination of “large families” and the official card that recognises them as such, creating a new denomination of “Families in need of special support in upbringing” in which large families will be included alongside other families with different special circumstances.
For the FEFN, which has positively assessed other aspects of the Law, this change of name represents “a disregard for large families and their social contribution in a matter, the name, which is totally unnecessary to change and which can only respond to ideological issues”, explains the president of the FEFN, José Manuel Trigo.
Collection of signatures
The measure has caused deep unease among families and the FEFN has already started a signature campaign (they have already collected more than 15,000 signatures in just 48 hours) so that they can express their opposition to this outrage, so that the card of large family is maintained as it has been until now and a new denomination is created for other families with special family circumstances, who deserve special support, but according to their needs.
In this sense, the FEFN recalls that it has been denouncing for some time that “the concept of large family is being distorted, using the Large Family Card as a “catch-all” in which all kinds of assumptions have been put, so that being a large family no longer means having many children and being many at home, but now there are large families of 3 members. “But now… -The president points out, “to try to change the name of our families, which has been recognised by law for 80 years and is a recognition of those who have more children and make a special contribution to society, is an absolute disregard, it is a direct attack on large families, because erasing their name means wanting to eliminate large families, erase their existence”, he explains.
Absurd denomination
The FEFN considers this to be yet another example of the “absurd” planning of the new Families Act, which, in its desire to integrate and support “all families”, is generating great discontent, creating great confusion and comparative grievances. Thus, the FEFN criticises the fact that instead of drawing up specific regulations that provide adequate responses to each type of family, maintaining the regulatory framework of the Law on Large Families, the Government is inventing an “absurd” global denomination that includes families with very different situations and needs. Paradoxically, it seems that a single-parent family card is going to be created and, nevertheless, the large family card is to be eliminated.
The FEFN hopes that this law does not see the light of day as it has been proposed, that common sense prevails and that the title of large family is maintained, respecting its denomination and the benefits that recognise these families in a fair way for their special contribution to society. In this sense, the Federation is going to contact the parliamentary groups to ask for their support against the suppression of the concept of large family.
