COFACE Core Values
COFACE – FAMILIES EUROPE is a network promoting the well-being, health and security of families and their members in a changing society. And serves as a trusted entity for family mainstreaming and for the voice/needs of families in the EU and beyond.
COFACE Families Europe is rooted in a set of six core values:
COFACE key activities
We advocate for families of all types without discrimination, bringing their voice to the table of European Union decision-making, ensuring that EU policies and legislation work in the general interest.
Furthermore, we support transnational exchanges between COFACE members (civil society organisations representing and supporting families) in the form of expert meetings, trainings, campaigns, conferences, webinars and more.
COFACE members are regularly updated and partners via the Families Corner newsletter, and interact with our social media communities.
A New Deal for Families of Today – COFACE highlights priorities for 2020-2024
This list of key short-term demands to be achieved by the new European Commission from 2020-2024, 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.
HIGHLIGHTED COFACE NEWS
Latest articles
Guiding Children Through Parental Separation: Key tips from Women for Women
Every year, thirty thousand minor children in the Czech Republic face the divorce or separation of their parents. COFACE member organisation Women for Women (W4W) runs a service which supports separating parents and offers them a helping hand.
Inclusive education for an Inclusive Europe – a critical perspective by Genitori Tosti
Representatives of Genitori Tosti (member of COFACE Disability) attended a European expert meeting co-organised by AIAS and COFACE Disability to take stock of progress in inclusive education in Europe. The event took place at the end of March with 100+ participants in Monza (Italy) looking at the Italian system as a starting point for discussions with European peer countries and with EU policy-makers.
OPINION – Empowering Parenthood: How the Work-Life Balance Directive Reshapes Parental Leave in Poland
On 23rd of March 2023, the President of Poland signed the bill implementing the work-life balance directive in Poland and the new regulation came into force on 26th of April 2023. This marks, two years of advocacy work led by Share the Care foundation coming to an end.
Explore more of COFACE work
COFACE develops different types of publications
including position papers, studies based on feedback from families, briefs on family and EU policies, meeting reports.
Our latest publications include a list of economic principles to help build an economy that cares.
You and the EU
The European Union develops different actions and laws to ensure family and child well-being.
And we at COFACE try to shape these actions based on our core values. These actions include:
- key guidelines and laws for national governments to strengthen their social and family policies;
- different long-term action plans to support governments;
- funding mechanisms to boost NGOs and families.
European Family Lab
Family supports & resilience in challenging times
Family supports are an essential part of making social rights a reality, and civil society has grown over decades to create a wide range of supports to families and children to ensure health and well-being.
Now, more than ever, it is important to connect professionals in real time through transnational exchanges in order to tackle the social impacts of different transitions (digital, green, energy, health) on families and children.
We believe the European Family Lab is the place to connect them, serving as an innovation incubator for ideas and cross-country knowledge transfer to help family professionals deliver the best possible supports for Europeans. We are building the Lab virtual room by virtual room, with a newly launched Education&Training programme for upskilling of professionals and families: the L.I.N.K. Programme.
COMING UP with COFACE
Events
COFACE online exchange: Recognition of parenthood between Member States
COFACE online exchange: Recognition of parenthood between Member States
COFACE members are invited to join the discussion parenthood recognition across countries, based on a regulation proposed by the European Commission in December 2022 which aims to harmonise at EU level the rules of private international law relating to parenthood.
COFACE Disability members’ exchange: age and disability
COFACE Disability members' exchange: age and disability
COFACE Disability members are invited to this online information session on age and disability
Leaving nobody behind: Making social rights available to all families
Leaving nobody behind: Making social rights available to all families
This European expert meeting co-hosted with UNAF Spain will provide an overview of the social rights of families, identify any gaps in eligibility or family policy designs, and consider what adaptations of social protection systems and EU policies are needed.