This ruling, the second of its kind on the island to reach the Supreme Court, extends the total leave to 26 weeks. The judgment is based on the principle of the child's best interest, seeking to prevent discrimination against children in single-parent families.

The high court considers that if, in a two-parent family, childcare is shared between two parents, in a single-parent family, the child has the right to similar care. The case originated with a birth in 2021, when the mother was granted 16 weeks, leading her to claim the additional ten weeks that a partner would have received.

Although she initially won her case, the Social Security appealed the ruling to the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC), which overturned it. The mother then appealed to the Supreme Court, citing a resolution from Catalan courts that ruled differently.

During this judicial process, the Constitutional Court (TC) declared the prohibition for single-parent families to enjoy the same rights as two-parent families unconstitutional. The resolution clarifies that the first six mandatory and uninterrupted weeks after childbirth are not included in the accumulation, as they must be taken immediately by the single parent, and the 10 additional weeks correspond to the leave that the other parent would have had.

Last year, the Council of Ministers approved an extension doubling this service, bringing the total to 32 weeks. This measure applies to children born from August 2024 onwards and can be claimed from early 2026. These pioneering rulings have enabled other mothers and fathers in single-parent situations to claim the accumulation of birth and childcare leave from both parents, a right now recognized by law.