Forensic social work in the courts of justice in Spain

The development of the activity of social work in the Courts of Justice in Spain is framed around three milestones of a legal, professional and academic nature. This chapter describes its evolution, focusing, on the one hand, on the creation in 2012 of the Spanish Association of Forensic Social Work, and on the other hand, the evolution towards specialization in four areas, family courts, violence against women, support procedures for people with disabilities in the exercise of their legal capacity and the victim assistance offices, analysing into specific aspects related to the space for the practice of social work and specialization in terms of the methodology of social intervention. Finally, the conclusions of this chapter show the emergence of a growing professional field for social work, as well as some of its challenges.