In this paper we present the results of our research on a key social policy: the interaction between youth and social services. We analyze the reality of youth social services in Spain. Taking as a reference the objectives of youth policies in the European Union, which are characterized by autonomy, independence and participation, we inquire as to what extent social policies aimed at young people have been overlooked in the Spanish welfare system.

In a context of deep economic crisis, in which the viability of the welfare state is being challenged from different theoretical positions (Featherstone, Broadhurst and Holt 2012; Kim, Muntaner, Shahidi, Vives, Vanroel and Benach 2012), European welfare states must address a key issue: youth social policies (Furlong, 2009). In the Spanish case, the situation is particularly dramatic because the Spanish youth has a level of unemployment that is twice the European average, they become independent later than their counterparts in central and northern Europe, and depends on family ties to survive. However, it cannot be analyzed the Spanish situation if we don´t taken into account a double factor: On one hand, the European context, and inside, the peculiarities of the Spanish welfare system, in which clearly young people are a sparsely attended group. On the other hand, and drawing on the theoretical models that come from the successful experience of the countries of northern Europe, we can address the specific situation of Spanish youth regarding social services and social work.

In this sphere, as in others, the model of northern European countries has become a point of reference for discussion and debate in southern European countries. As noted by Castells and Himanen (2002), the model of technological development and state policies aimed at strengthening the welfare state characteristic of Finland has become a reference for the rest of the European Union and especially for Spain. In the field of youth policy, the models of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark can be defined as universal as they aim to protect and revitalize all dimensions of young people’s lives. The administrations of these countries provide all types of financial aid to encourage youth to follow their individual life paths and achieve independence. A key point in this model is the feedback between public policies and civil society as there does not exist a ministry of social intervention aimed at young people. Youth play a key role in designing their own social policies and because of this have a high degree of social participation through various social organizations. Young people are seen by their own society as a resource rather than a problem, and the objectives of youth policies, in line with that vision, are autonomy, independence, and social and political participation (Wallace and Bendit, 2009).

Perhaps where this issue is best observed is in the pattern of emancipation. The expectations and values of European youth are very similar across countries. The age considered ideal to leave the family home ranges from 20 to 21 years old (Moreno Mínguez, López Peláez and Segado Sánchez-Cabezudo, 2012). However, depending on the institutional context and family structure, as well as social policies and social services, we see substantial differences according to country of residence. For example, 24% of Finnish youth aged 15 to 29 live with their parents compared with 55% of Spaniards of the same age (Eurostat, 2009). Young people in northern Europe leave the family home at an earlier age than Spanish youth (Table 1).

The residential patterns of youth in northern European countries are not always associated with living with a partner or forming a family, while the majority of young people in Spain delay leaving home until they live with a partner and have children. In northern European countries, for example in Sweden, 33.1% of men and 23.4% of young women live alone after becoming emancipated compared with 3.5% of men and 1.6% of women in Spain. Cohabitation is also widespread among Swedish youth aged thirty years old without children (81.5%), but not among the Spanish (27.4%) (European Labour Survey, 2009).

The available studies focus primarily on specific countries and cities (Bradley and van Hoof, 2005; Leccardi and Ruspini, 2006; Comas, 2011). Wallace and Bendit (2009) propose a descriptive typology of social policy models for young people, in which Spain is included within what they call a centralized model, together with Greece, Portugal and Italy. Within the European Union, Spain is the country where young people remain in the parental home longest and the youth unemployment rate is the highest (Moreno Mínguez, López Peláez and Segado Sánchez-Cabezudo, 2012). From the perspective of social work, it is important to analyze youth policies, and specially the relationship between the welfare state, social services and the living conditions of young people (Arias Astray and Sánchez Moreno 2012). In this sense, we have conducted over the past three years our research on social services and youth in Spain. The available data show a progressive distancing between youth and the social services. We demonstrate this trend by 1) analyzing the most relevant data on the social situation of youth and the main issues affecting them, 2) using available data on social services and youth; and finally, 3) examining the growing alienation between youth and social services.

The analysis of youth in Spain brings to light two key aspects. On the one hand, we find that young people are alienated from institutions (Aliena, Fombuena and García, 2012), organize themselves through social networks, encounter difficulties in making the transition from the family household to their own homes and from school to paid employment, weave their interrelational networks across the Internet and are involved in social movements such as the 15-M protests (which were subsequently reproduced in many countries). On the other hand, the Spanish welfare state delegates support for young people in families, while focusing on other age groups (Moreno Mínguez, López Peláez and Segado Sánchez-Cabezudo, 2012).

Social services are the last barrier against social exclusion processes in this age group. Often, many serious problems of social disintegration and exclusion begin during youth (López Peláez, 2012; Tezanos, 2007). The failure of youth transitions (emancipation from the family home and incorporation into the labor market) are the starting point of a downward spiral which ultimately leads to a situation of severe social exclusion. It is therefore necessary to design social services programs targeted specifically at young people to aid them in their life and career paths and promote their social inclusion.

Spanish youth currently face a very difficult situation (Moreno Mínguez, 2013). The high unemployment rates among Spanish youth must be analyzed taking into account the high percentage of temporary contracts among young workers, the higher risk of occupational accidents among this group, and low wages. It is a vicious circle in which the sequence of unemployment, temporary employment, low wages, and unemployment once again result in the disqualification of young workers, whose health is often threatened. On the other hand, Spanish youth remain in the family home until a late age, and largely distrust basic state institutions.

As we will show below, these feelings of distrust are justified in the fact that the welfare state does hold young people to be a priority. To do so, first we briefly present some characteristics of Spanish youth and subsequently analyze the job market and the process of youth emancipation.

As we have seen, the challenges facing young people in Spain today are complex and diverse. Their vulnerability increases in direct proportion to the rising unemployment rates and increasing difficulties involved in finding a stable and well-paid job (Gorry, 2013). In contrast to European Union publications on youth (Council of the European Union, 2009) which call for improving the living conditions of young people and fostering their participation in policy making, a detailed analysis of the situation in Spain reveals that social services targeted specifically at youth are gradually being eliminated.

As noted in the introduction, the autonomy, participation and independence of young people are one of the signs of identity of social policies in countries of northern Europe, and also play a key role in social policies of the European Union (Council of the European Union 2009). In relation to EU guidelines, and the practical experience of societies such as those of Finland or Sweden, the Spanish welfare system presents some specific and differentiating features: the delay in the age of emancipation, low participation by young people (except when mobilizing through social networks), lack of public policies for youth, reduced funding for these policies, and finally a progressive distancing between youth and social services. In this regard, it is important to analyze the theoretical model of integration of young people that derives from European legislation, as well as the practical reality of youth policies in countries of northern Europe, in relation to the Spanish case, specifically in terms of social services.

The detailed analysis of social service interventions with youth in Spain has led to four findings. First, Spanish youth are clearly in a situation of vulnerability due to the country’s high youth unemployment rates. As a result, emancipation from the family of origin and incorporation into the labor market are, in many cases, impossible to achieve. In an aging society, youth social policies should be central in promoting empowerment and personal development (Morton and Montgomery, 2012) and ensuring generational reproduction. Yet the data for Spain show that the Spanish welfare state focuses precisely on other age groups. Second, youth are not a target group within the social services, despite the theoretical importance of youth policies. Young people are not assessed as such, and in the planning of social intervention activities youth are not taken into account. This is consistent with the Spanish welfare state system, which tends to reduce its performance for young people (in a context in which the family is the main provider of resources for young people). Third, because social services are designed for other age groups and other demands, young people are clearly dissatisfied with social policy and social services. Indeed, the system seems to have turned its back on youth who gradually distance themselves from the social services and public institutions. Fourth, Spanish youth interact intensively with new technologies and social networks, and use these channels to organize themselves and put their demands on the public agenda as the mass protests by Spanish youth on March 15, 2011 have shown. Given that the results of previous research studies show that youth welfare administrators can support service effectiveness with interventions that improve specific dimensions of culture and climate (Williams and Glisson, 2013). In order to foster participation by young people in the design of youth policies – an express objective of the European Union – the social services model must be redefined. Mechanisms must be developed to promote youth participation which take into account that young people are digital natives.

In this regard, further studies are needed to design strategies to enable the participation of young people online, reformulate Spanish social policies, and advance in the construction of a European citizenship for our youth. In our view, this should be a common goal for social services across Europe. In a context in which young Europeans are digital natives above all, old and new risks of social exclusion are redefined in the Internet, and new forms of participation must be developed through social networks as has been done in countries such as Finland (www.lastensuojelu.info). To address these new challenges, it is necessary to develop what we call online social work (Del Fresno 2013) to ensure that young people become a strategic sector both in Spain and other countries of the European Union.