Here you will see news from Europe, from civil society, from research, highlighting emerging trends from local to international level relevant for families of today.
On the initiative of Minister Suzanne Raab, Austrian Minister for Women, Family, Integration and Media , a high level conference of European Ministers responsible for Family Affairs took place in Vienna on 13th June 2024, as part of the commemoration of the 30 anniversary of the International Year of the Family.
Ethnic segregation is a widespread and systematic practice in many European countries. These practices are illegal yet continue to shape the lives of children and families across Europe. Our rights to education, housing, and health, ostensibly enjoyed by us all, remain divided along ethnic lines. For many Roma, their enjoyment of these rights is severely limited, often with the tacit support of the state.
On 6-9th June 2024, Europeans voted to renew the European Parliament and new Members of European Parliament (MEP) will convene for the first time in Plenary mid-July in Strasbourg, France. While the European People’s Party (EPP), European Conservatives (ECR) and Identify and Democracy Group (ID) have seen an increase in seats, the Greens and Renew Europe have had significant losses. The Socialists have maintained around the same number of seats. The biggest increase has been for the non-aligned MEPs which are a heterogenous group, yet with most of them coming from the far right.
As Poland marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the Work-Life Balance Directive, questions arise about its impact on gender equality in both professional and family spheres. Do women and men feel more equal in their professional and family lives?
Familias Monoparentales (FAMS), declared that single parents don’t depend on other parents, but on the services offered by the Spanish government. This relationship between single parents and government cannot work when more than 65% of single parents are looking for part-time work so they can be available for their children in the afternoons. This means reduced income to pay for childcare and the costs that come with infancy.
It has been a year since the Council of Europe condemned the French state for violating the rights of people with disabilities and their families. COFACE members Unapei and APF France Handicap along with other NGOs are urgently reminding the French government of their obligations to protect people with disabilities and their families.
The end of March 2024 marked a significant event for Fundação LIGA, our Portuguese COFACE Disability member. In fact, representatives of their Early Childhood Intervention Program participated in the inaugural meeting of ELI AASMA. ELI AASMA is the Early Childhood Intervention Association for the municipalities of Alenquer, Arruda dos Vinhos, and Sobral de Monte Agraço and serves as a platform for collaboration and knowledge-sharing among professionals working to support children and families.
On 14 and 15 April, COFACE Families Europe participated in the Social Summit on the Future of Social Europe that took place in the small Belgian village of La Hulpe. The purpose of the high-level conference was to sign an inter-institutional declaration, with the ultimate goal of shaping the future social agenda of the European Union for period of 2024-2029.
Autism Europe, a network of organisations advancing the rights of autistic people and their families became co-chair of the European Expert Group on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based support (EEG), with COFACE Families Europe. They took over from the European Disability Forum. The EEG is a coalition advocating to replace institutionalisation with family- and community-based support. It represents children and their families, people with disabilities and their families, homeless people, people experiencing mental health problems, service providers, public authorities, UN organisations.
