Continuing your toddler's therapy after moving to Spain from abroad

Key rules

• Re-evaluation: Expect the public regional team to assess your child again, even if therapy started abroad.
• Foreign reports: They support the assessment but may not prove eligibility or speed up admission.
• Translations: A certified translation into Spanish or your region's co-official language is often requested.
• Acting fast: Apply as soon as you have an address to limit the gap in therapy.
• Moving regions: There is no automatic transfer, so you generally apply again in the new region.

Expect a new assessment in Spain

Plan for your child to be re-evaluated. Public early-care services generally run their own assessment before they admit a child, even if therapy was going well abroad. Each region has its own team. Examples are the CDIAP in Catalonia, the CAIT in Andalucía, and the regional centres in Madrid and Valencia.

What your foreign reports do

Foreign reports are useful, but they may not prove your child is eligible. The team will read them to understand your child's history, diagnosis and progress. They rarely get your child admitted faster on their own, and they don't replace the local assessment.

Expect to be asked for a certified translation into Spanish, or into the co-official language of your region. Start the translations early, because they can take time. The documents list below shows what to bring.

How to keep the gap short

Speed matters more than perfect paperwork. Do this in order:

1. Contact the public regional early-care team for your area as soon as you have an address. Your town hall or the regional social services office can tell you which team covers you.
2. Ask for the assessment appointment first. Send the reports and translations as they become ready.
3. Ask what the waiting time is and whether you can be put on a list now.
4. Ask the foreign therapists for a clear summary of goals, methods and progress. A short current report is more useful than a pile of old ones.

Practice varies by centre and region, so ask each team what it wants to see.

If you move between Spanish regions

Do not assume your place moves with you. There is no automatic transfer between regions. Each region has its own system, so you will generally need to register and apply again, and you may join that region's waiting list. Keep the previous reports and the discharge or progress documents from your old centre, as they help the new assessment. Ask the new region's social services department how its procedure works before you move, if you can.

The decision, documents and questions below cover the rest.

Choosing between options

How do you restart your child's therapy after moving?

• Apply to the public regional team: You arrive from abroad or from another Spanish region. Expect your own assessment there, and a possible waiting list.

• Bring foreign or previous reports to the assessment: Your child already had therapy or an assessment before. The reports help the team but do not replace its assessment.

Always start with the public regional assessment, because there is no automatic transfer from abroad or between regions. Bring your reports to it, and apply as soon as you register to keep the therapy gap short.

Procedures differ by region, so confirm them with the new region's social services department.

Documents you need

• Foreign medical or therapy reports on your child, from the doctors or therapists who treated them abroad. They support the Spanish assessment but do not replace it.

• Certified translation into Spanish, or the co-official language of your region, of those foreign reports. Centres often ask for it.

• If you move between Spanish regions: previous reports and the discharge or progress documents from your old centre, to help the new assessment.

Frequently asked questions

Will foreign reports get my child admitted faster?

No, foreign reports rarely speed up admission on their own, because the Spanish team still does its own assessment. They do help the team understand your child's history. Bring them with a translation into Spanish, or the co-official language of your region, as centres often ask for one.

Does my child have to be re-evaluated if therapy already started abroad?

Yes, public services generally require their own assessment by the regional team before admitting your child, even after therapy abroad. Ask for that assessment as soon as you have registered in your new town, to keep the gap in therapy short.