Introduction. Residential care continues to be a key component of child protection services in Spain. Ensuring that the care provided is of high quality is therefore crucial for the children's wellbeing. A framework of professional evaluation and perfor-mance is necessary to guarantee a high standard of management and care in child protection cen-tres. Method. We conducted a review of the major national and international documents, regulations and resources that underpin the Quality Standards in Residential Care (EQUAR). The data collection and analysis involved two stages: (1) a review of documents and legislation to determine the extent to which they remain applicable or in force; and (2), a comparison of the EQUAR with current national and regional legislation in Spain. Results. Many of the documents and regulations on which the EQUAR was based have been updated and are no longer applicable. Moreover, although the EQUAR remains useful to guide the evaluation of the quality of residential care provision in Spain, some of its standards need to be revised and updated to bring them into line with current legislation and the most recent versions of key documents. These updates relate to different aspects of residential care for chil-dren and adolescents. Discussion and Conclusions. Updating and using the EQUAR to develop specific tools that could be applied by managers of residen-tial care facilities would help to guide professional practice and provide standardised criteria for evaluating the quality of residential care in Spain. This work offers a starting point that can serve as a professional orientation for the improvement of residential care quality.
