COFACE Families Europe together with its members is very active in addressing the social challenges faced by families of today and advocating for policies to support their well-being.

In 2019, COFACE Families Europe mobilised voters locally through its member organisations (representing families of all types, without discrimination). A call was launched to the COFACE network to vote and speak out in May 2019 using 10 key values as a compass: non-discrimination, equal opportunities, empowerment, internet for all, social inclusion, sustainability, respect of human rights, solidarity, child well-being, accessibility. Following the election of the new European Parliament and the publication of the European Commission’s political guidelines, COFACE Families Europe published its New Deal for Families of Today which is a list of key short-term demands (also available in Easy-to-Read language) to be achieved by the new European Commission from 2020-2024, which are to be seen as concrete steps to meet the long-term goals of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

These demands reflect the needs and challenges of families of today and call for a mix of European actions (policy, law, funding, benchmarking, innovation) to drive real change. These recommendations are addressed at EU-level policymakers in the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the EU, from whom we expect joint leadership to ensure tangible results for Europe’s citizens.  It is on this basis that we have assessed  the European Union’s work from 2019 to 2024, and how it contributes to achieving eight positive outcomes for families of today (see more here). While this assessment refers to various initiatives to support families, it cannot fully assess the real impact on families at local level yet. It is crucial for the EU institutions to conduct monitoring and evaluation of their policies to understand the impacts (positive and negative) on families, in order to review and consolidate existing frameworks under the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan and adopt any new measures needed to strengthen the Pillars.

Read the full assessment here.

See the 10 key actions we want integrated into the EU’s 2024-2029 programme here.

The post State Of The European Union for Families: COFACE assessment of the European Union’s work from 2019-2024 appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

For months, COFACE Disability Platform, Unapei, and other solidarity and healthcare associations have voiced concerns about the conditions of non-profit establishments and services implementing French State and local government policies. Alongside Uniopss (National Interfederal Union of Non-Profit Health and Social Organizations), of which Unapei is a member, they refuse to accept the ongoing lack of decisive action that undermines essential daily support services. Therefore, they are launching a national petition titled “For Dignified Support: Together, Let’s Raise Awareness!” Endorsed by Unapei president Pascale Ribes, it urges every citizen to join us in advocating for solidarity and healthcare.

As French public budgets face reductions in 2024 and anticipate further cuts in 2025, it’s evident that nonprofit organisations are struggling to fulfill their missions. Testimonies abound: France currently fails to provide dignified support to those in need – be it elderly individuals losing autonomy, people with disabilities, children in need of protection, or homeless individuals lacking shelter and assistance. Patients wait for essential medical care.

Experienced daily by citizens, nonprofit actors, and professionals, this lack of decisive action is unacceptable. At every stage of life, we are all vulnerable, making this issue relevant to each of us – whether for ourselves, a family member, a colleague, or a neighbor.

Together with Uniopss, Unapei is launching a petition, “For Dignified Support: Let’s Sound the Alarm Together.” It urges everyone to take action, including pushing for these topics to be discussed in the social life councils of establishments.

Through this petition, Unapei calls for resources to match needs, ambitious measures to uplift social and healthcare professionals, and comprehensive assessments at the local level involving all stakeholders.

You can sign the petition here (FR).

The post Rallying for dignity: Unapei launches national petition for improved healthcare in France appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

On 15th May from 17.30-19.30 in the Schuman area of Brussels, COFACE Families Europe invited friends to assess the results of the last 5-year mandate of the von der Leyen Commission and highlight some key messages ahead of the European elections.

This was also be the occasion to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the International Year of Families.

COFACE Families launched its “State Of The European Union for families” assessment of the last 5-year mandate of the von der Leyen Commission and how it contributed to achieving eight specific outcomes for families. We also presented our #ActNow for Families of Today call to action, which comprises 10 specific actions that COFACE believe should be integrated into the EU’s 2024-2029 programme. Also available in Easy-to-read version here.

Last but not least, a COFACE song has been developed with the aim to push our message in a creative and engaging way.

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Background

In 2019, COFACE Families Europe mobilised voters locally through its member organisations (representing families of all types, without discrimination). A call was launched to the COFACE network to vote and speak out in May 2019 using 10 key values as a compass: non-discrimination, equal opportunities, empowerment, internet for all, social inclusion, sustainability, respect of human rights, solidarity, child well-being, accessibility.

Following the 2019 election of the new European Parliament and the publication of the European Commission’s political guidelines, COFACE Families Europe published its New Deal for Families of Today which is a list of key short-term demands (also available in Easy-to-Read language) to be achieved by the new European Commission from 2020-2024. They are to be seen as concrete steps to meet the long-term goals of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

These demands reflect the needs and challenges of families of today and call for a mix of European actions (policy, law, funding, benchmarking, innovation) to drive real change. These recommendations are addressed at EU-level policymakers in the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the EU, from whom we expect joint leadership to ensure tangible results for Europe’s citizens.

It is on this basis that we have assessed the work of the European Union’s work from 2019 to 2024, and how it contributes to achieving positive outcomes for families of today.

The post State Of The European Union for families appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

COFACE member, Fonds du Logement Wallonie (FLW) provides housing loans to large families for the creation of special accommodation for one or more parents aged 60 or over. Since 2022, this option has been available to all households (with or without children) meeting certain income conditions: total taxable income for the penultimate year, i.e. 2022 for an application submitted in 2024, may not exceed EUR 76,000, plus EUR 5,000 per dependent child. 

The aim of this extension is to stimulate solidarity between the generations, and is part of the solution to the problem of housing for senior citizens: the high cost and shortage of accommodation in nursing homes, large family homes that are under-occupied and remote from essential services, and so on. 

Transforming an old farmhouse 

Nearly 400 senior citizens have benefited from this initiative to date. Very recently, in its new management contract with Wallonia, the FLW renewed its commitment to this segment, which it even plans to expand. 

Marc and Sylvie have three children between them. They bought an old farmhouse in Musson in the province of Luxembourg. The property was ideal as a home for Marc’s parents, who had recently retired to Charleroi and wanted to be closer to their only son and grandson.  

“We bought this property in 2019 because it could be extended and converted at a later date. The time for the work came sooner than we expected… the never-ending rise in prices pushed us over the edge,” explains Marc. 

The couple recently obtained a loan of EUR 60,000 without mortgage registration, at an interest rate of 3%, to carry out their conversion work. 

Read more here. 

The post COFACE Member FLW’s housing loans: Support for retired parents  appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

On the 20th of December 2023, the European Commission and the European Council reached a long-sought political agreement on the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. While the Commission described the agreement as ‘historic’, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles called it ‘a dark day for Europe’. In fact, Civil society has widely criticised the Pact for its transgressions on fundamental rights, including providing for the detainment of children. 55 civil society organisations signed an open letter calling for the Pact to be rejected. Despite this, the Pact now awaits formal adoption by the EU Parliament in April 2024. 

The Pact consists of 5 main regulations: the Screening Regulation, the Eurodac Regulation, Asylum Procedures Regulation, Asylum and Migration Management Regulation and the Crisis and Force Majeure Regulation. Each component and how they interact is extremely complex, and their limited protections contain sub-clauses that allow even further derogations. 

The Screening Regulation obligates all third country nationals to undergo a screening before they will be legally recognised to have entered the territory.  

The Pact allows for this process to take 10 days. In practice, similar procedures in Samos, Greece, have been known to take an average of 1.5 months. Civil society organisations have declared this procedure to create a situation of de facto detention. The Border Violence Monitoring Network highlighted the potential for this to increase the racial profiling of racialised communities already in Europe. This is because the screening procedure will apply to anyone suspected of entering the EU irregularly, regardless of where they are. 

After this screening procedure, third country nationals will be directed to different asylum procedures based on their nationality. People from countries with an asylum acceptance rate of less than 20% will be sent to accelerated procedures, with fewer safeguards and extended detention. In vaguely defined circumstances, this accelerated procedure will apply to all arrivals. Families with children are not exempt from this procedure. A few Member States in fact secretly lobbied against a general exemption on the detention of children. 

The Commission’s original proposal to expand the definition of family to include siblings and extended family members was rejected by the States. This is a huge blow to many people’s hopes for family reunification.  

The Eurodac Regulation requires that children from the age of 6 will have their biometric data collected. This contrasts with the GDPR which states that children under 16 cannot have their personal data processed.  

Through the ‘solidarity mechanism’ states can avoid the relocation of arrivals to their territory by contributing to coercive measures aimed at preventing arrivals in the first place. This could include training and collaborating with third countries or building securitised border areas. NGOs have stressed that the Pact’s focus on securitisation and coercion is unlikely to have any impact on the number of people who make the often perilous journey to Europe. It will simply make this journey more difficult. 

The Crisis and Force Majeure Regulation allows derogation from the already reduced protections for people on the move. States will be able to arbitrarily decide when to apply the accelerated border procedure. In cases of ‘mass influx’, nationals from countries with less than a 75% acceptance rate will go through the accelerated procedure. 

As focus turns towards the implementation stage of the Pact, civil society have stressed the need to interpret the regulations with the strongest protections possible. Implementation must be in line with fundamental rights, and reception conditions must be improved. That said, the Pact only states that NGOs ‘may’ be included in monitoring activities, therefore the Pact’s actual implementation will largely remain in a veil of secrecy.

Read more about the EU Migration and Asylum Pact here.

The post ‘Historic’ EU Migration Pact agreement raises major concerns among civil society appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

What is the European Observatory on Family Policy  

The European Observatory on Family Policy is a joint research programme of COFACE Families Europe and the Centre for Family Studies of ODISEE University of Applied Sciences launched in 2022. The Observatory aims to serve as a platform for the observation, analysis, and dissemination of evidence on family policy and other social concerns directly relevant to family well-being across the European Union. 

 

Partners

The Observatory is implemented as a partnership between COFACE Families Europe and Odisee’s Centre for Family Studies. COFACE Families Europe offers the programme its extensive knowledge on EU policies and the realities of families across Europe, while the Centre for Family Studies provides its expertise on practice-based research from the perspective of families and its research networks in Belgium and internationally. The partnership is conceived to bring together the respective strengths and expertise on family policy and family life to better meet its monitoring and analytical goals. 

 

Values

The starting point for the Observatory is human rights, gender equality, social inclusion, diversity, empowerment, and intergenerational solidarity, with a stated ambition of promoting policies which support all types of families, without discrimination. The key principles underpinning the Observatory’s activity are public interest, impartiality, and quality of content.  

Objectives

The Observatory sets out to address three broad objectives: to identify emerging trends and priorities in family policy across EU Member states, while monitoring progress on family-related targets; to develop innovative frameworks for interpreting the evidence collected; to broker knowledge at the EU and member states level, providing a bridge between academics, decision makers, advocacy coalitions, and grassroots family organizations. 

 

Activities

Through its activity, the Observatory aims to document and highlight the impact of public policy initiatives on families, intended both as a set of individual members and as a collective entity.  It brings together different perspectives on family resources and needs from a range of public policy, research, and advocacy contexts. It strives to integrate these viewpoints into a unified theoretical framework, and to design suitable recommendations for policymaking at EU, national, and local levels.  

 

 

  

 

Steering Group

Its activities are overseen and coordinated by an executive Steering Group that convenes regularly and outlines the strategic direction for the partnership. The Steering Group further ensures the quality, consistency, and timeliness of the Observatory’s activity. Coordination of the Observatory is based in Brussels. Members of the Steering group are: 

 

Annemie Drieskens, President of COFACE and Steering Group chair. 

Annemie is President of COFACE Families Europe and board member of Gezinsbond in Belgium. She has been for many years actively involved in Social and family policy at National and European level giving a voice to the needs and challenges that families are facing, and defending the rights of all families and their members in EU and beyond.

Kathleen Emmery, Coordinator of ODISEE Knowledge Centre for Family Studies.

Kathleen has been coordinator of ODISEE since 2012. In her scientific work on relationship support and family transitions, Kathleen focuses on the needs and demands of families, fathers, mothers, children and professionals, through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.

Elizabeth Gosme, Director of COFACE.

Elizabeth has been Director of COFACE since 2016. She is an EU social policy analyst with extensive experience in EU affairs representing the interests of civil society organisations. She has worked extensively with various EU institutions contributing to building a social policy architecture for Europe.

Sven Iversen, Vice-president of COFACE.

 Sven Iversen is Vice-President of COFACE Families Europe, delegated from  the Association of German Family Organisations (AGF), of which he is  General Manager. He is a political scientist, holds an MBA and has previously held positions in a parliamentary group, an agency for sustainability and particpation, in cultural management and the prevention childhood obesity.

Jos Sterckx, Senior Researcher at ODISEE.

Jos Sterckx worked as a social worker / family counselor and director in a foster care service. Subsequently, he was director of a Flemish umbrella of 150 service providers in the disability field; and director of the Knowledge Center Social Europe from 2008 to 2018. He advises and supports the researchers of ODISEE in project development and European funding.

Tanja Neulant, Director of ODISEE Knowledge Center for Family Studies.

Tanja Nuelant is director of  graduate and bachelor programmes and research in the field of social work, orthopedagogy and family studies at Odisee University College. Tanja is also family policy advisor  of Gezinsbond (the Flemish league of families).

Martino Serapioni is Research Programme Coordinator at COFACE
He coordinates research activities in the framework of the European Observatory on Family Policy. Prior to COFACE, he worked as researcher in comparative early childhood education and care policy at the G.M. Bertin Faculty of Education of the University of Bologna. He is a member of the European Commission Network of Experts on Social Aspects of Education and Training (NESET II). 

Report of the European Observatory on Family Policy: Towards greater family policy integration across Europe

 

Families with young children have complex necessities in the period before the start of compulsory schooling. Often, these needs cannot be reduced to educational, healthcare or caregiving demands alone.

Successful fulfillment of these needs requires a joint effort of different governmental organizations to build ties and form functioning networks of cooperation over a long period of time. This comparative report aims to investigate possible responses to the multisectoral needs of households by providing an overview of the current alignment and coordination between complementary services and policy areas in four European countries (Finland, Germany, Italy, and Poland) and the Belgian region of Flanders.

 

Read the full report here and watch our research webinar presenting the findings below.

The post EUROPEAN OBSERVATORY ON FAMILY POLICY appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

19th September 10.30-12.30 CET

REGISTER HERE

This online working group meeting is being organised in the context of the L.I.N.K. education programme, a joint initiative of COFACE Families Europe and KMOP education hub, which is part of the European Family Lab launched in 2020.

The meeting is aiming to create an informal and collaborative space, serving as an education hub, where members from different countries can learn from one another, exchange ideas, build partnerships and explore ways to improve and promote their education practices.

The working group will bring together committed professionals and staff in the COFACE network who are actively involved or interested in education programmes within their organisations, aiming to support both families and professionals through upskilling and life-long learning. REGISTER HERE

For further information, contact Beybin Elvin Tunç, Education Programme Coordinator btunc@coface-eu.org 

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Background about L.I.N.K.

L.I.N.K. (Learning and Innovating through New Knowledge) focuses on key social challenges of our times. L.I.N.K. educational tools and courses of are based on values of human rights, non-discrimination, gender equality, social inclusion, diversity, empowerment, and intergenerational solidarity, and are designed for contributing to addressing important challenges that modern societies face.

The L.I.N.K. programme is a result of the collaboration between COFACE Families Europe and KMOP Education Hub. COFACE offers the programme its extensive knowledge on issues related to families at the European level, while KMOP, based on its long-term experience in actions supporting children and young people, as well as its knowledge in educational planning, provides documented and modern educational methods.

L.I.N.K reflects the joint goal of COFACE and KMOP to create a modern educational center aiming at supporting education and lifelong learning for a range of challenges, in which families, professionals and modern societies in general need support and continuous guidance.

In general, the goal of L.I.N.K. is to develop learning courses and tools. The courses may follow asynchronous, synchronous, and blended e-learning methods, through all the series of educational modules that are developed.  These educational modules provide learners with new skills and solutions to societal challenges affecting families of today, supporting also the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the European Pillar of Social Rights.

More here.

The post COFACE working group on education for social rights appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

The Commission has been tackling the issue of rising energy prices for the past year. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its further weaponisation of energy resources, the situation on the energy market has worsened considerably. 

Despite the significant drop in Russian energy supplies – from 45% of our gas imports last year, to just 14% in September 2022 – Europe has managed to find alternative supplies and reduced its demand to compensate for the shortfall. We have also taken measures to mitigate market volatility and to help citizens and businesses by redirecting excessive energy sector revenues to them. 

Thanks to the Energy Prices Toolbox, Member States have deployed many measures at the national level to ease price pressure on citizens and industry. In May, we adopted the REPowerEU Plan to end our dependence on Russian fossil fuels as soon as possible.

To ensure the security of supply for the coming winters, we have put in place new minimum gas storage obligations and a target of 15% gas demand reduction to ease the balance between supply and demand in Europe. Efforts to save energy and fill storage have so far delivered good results.

In September 2022, new measures were adopted to reduce electricity demand and use energy surpluses for the benefit of citizens and industry.

On 18 October 2022, the Commission proposed new measures on joint gas purchasing, price limiting mechanisms, and transparent infrastructure use, as well as on solidarity between Member States and demand management. This will provide further stability to the market.

Key figures 

• 5% obligation to reduce electricity demand during peak price hours 
• 15% gas demand reduction target 
• 92% gas storage level in the EU 

Read more here. 

The post What the EU has done to address the energy crisis appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

COFACE and the Skills4Parents project partners have developed a number of resources for parents, which have also been referenced in a recent statement of the Alliance for Investing in Children.

The resources include the following:

• A Learning Guide for Parents: Empowering families through the development of positive parenting skills

Developed through the expertise of 6 organisations and founded on values of human rights, non-discrimination, social inclusion, gender equality, intergenerational solidarity and empowerment of all families, the Skills4Parents Learning Guide for parents contains learning packages to boost parenting skills in five areas: Communication, Empowerment, Mediation, Problem-Solving, and Digital. The guide adopts a self-learning approach, allowing all learning parents to choose the content (tips, case studies, exercises) that they need to tackle the parenting challenges they are encountering at their own pace. All learning packages follow a self-learning approach enabling learning parents to craft their individual experience and follow it at their own pace.

• A Handbook for professionals

The Handbook contains a learning plan for each of the 5 packages to use as an example. Of course, this is just one of the ways for educators to use the learning guide for parents. But there are also tips for professionals working with parents and families on how to be more inclusive and how to design training that will resonate with different target audiences, including families in vulnerable situations. As professionals being in contact with parents and families, we are delighted to be able to promote the Skill4Parents resources with you as we are sure that you will find them useful.

• An Online Hub

The multilingual Hub hosts the five Learning Packages for parents which include articles, case studies, videos, digital resources, quizzes etc, as well as the Handbook for professionals. The aim is also to use this hub to further build a European community for parent empowerment, helping parents and professionals connect across countries. Hub.skills4parents.eu

For more information, contact info@coface-eu.org

The post Skills4Parents: Empowering families through the development of positive parenting skills appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

 

The European Family Lab L.I.N.K. programme is your virtual gateway to deepen your knowledge to better support families and children in your community.

What does L.I.N.K. stand for? 

 

L.I.N.K. (Learning and Innovating through New Knowledge) focuses on key social challenges of our times. L.I.N.K. educational tools and courses of are based on values of human rights, non-discrimination, gender equality, social inclusion, diversity, empowerment, and intergenerational solidarity, and are designed for contributing to addressing important challenges that modern societies face.

The L.I.N.K. programme is a result of the collaboration between COFACE Families Europe and KMOP Education Hub. COFACE offers the programme its extensive knowledge on issues related to families at the European level, while KMOP, based on its long-term experience in actions supporting children and young people, as well as its knowledge in educational planning, provides documented and modern educational methods.

L.I.N.K reflects the joint goal of COFACE and KMOP to create a modern educational center aiming at supporting education and lifelong learning for a range of challenges, in which families, professionals and modern societies in general need support and continuous guidance.

In general, the goal of L.I.N.K. is to develop e-learning courses. The courses may follow asynchronous, synchronous, and blended e-learning methods, through all the series of educational modules that are developed.  These educational modules provide learners with new skills and solutions to societal challenges affecting families of today, supporting also the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the European Pillar of Social Rights.

 

Who is the programme for?

 

The education and training courses are being developed for three main target groups:

• Families

• Professionals

•Organisations and Institutions

The first L.I.N.K. e-learning course is for professionals, and namely teachers working in any educational setting, students of psychology, education, social sciences, as well as any professional working with children in learning environments on a daily basis.

Learn more below  ↓

Meet your trainer : Dr. Antonia Torrens

Dr. Antonia Torrens is an educational psychologist, General Manager of KMOP and Vice President of COFACE Families Europe. She is the founder and coordinator of the “Live Without Bullying” programme, an innovative programme aiming to prevent and deal with school and cyber bullying in Greece. The programme has so far assisted more than 30,000 children and teachers throughout Greece and it has signed memorandums of cooperation with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Sports and other public bodies.

The post L.I.N.K. appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.