Strengthening families through integrated service delivery:
Scalable solutions across Europe
European expert meeting
18th March 2027, Sofia (Bulgaria)
The COFACE Families Europe network will convene a European expert meeting on 18th March 2027 to explore how services can better support families. There will be a mix of representatives from civil society, academia and public policy. With the good practices collected, we will create a compendium with examples which can be transferred across countries and also upscaled through EU funding programmes and partnerships. Co-hosted with COFACE member Tulip Foundation (Bulgaria) and building on the research of the European Observatory on Family Policy, this meeting will examine different types of service collaboration and alignment for ensuring quality support and driving change towards integrated service delivery for families and children. This will include looking at both barriers and solutions, and taking different family situations as a starting point.
Background
COFACE Families Europe is an active supporter of the European Child Guarantee, and is supporting its implementation through various tools and channels: expert meetings, policy work and analysis, research on family policy and integrated service delivery, and organising peer exchanges between national family ministries on good practices at policy/practice level. Across Europe, families continue to face complex and interrelated challenges, including poverty, social exclusion, unequal access to services, and fragmented support systems. These challenges disproportionately affect children, undermining their well-being and long-term opportunities.
The implementation of the European Child Guarantee has reinforced the need for coordinated, accessible, and high-quality services in key areas such as healthcare, education, early childhood development, housing, and social protection. However, in many Member States, services remain siloed, leading to inefficiencies and gaps in support. Integrated service delivery i.e. bringing together social, health, and education services in a coordinated manner, has emerged as a promising approach to improve accessibility and continuity of care, to address multidimensional needs of families, to increase efficiency and impact of public spending, and to strengthen prevention and early intervention.
Key topics
An opening panel will set the context and pinpoint barriers to integrated service delivery, making recommendations for defragmentation, cooperation, coordination, and integration. We will look at both challenges and good practices to overcome challenges in integrated service delivery for families, discussing service transformation for better outreach. This will then be followed by four breakout sessions:
- Enabling both parents by providing information and facilitated support in access to various services. This session will focus on fathers and cross-sectoral caregiving, as well as the contribution of policy frameworks to facilitate such partnerships
- Digitalisation of services for better coordination and family outreach. This session will cover opportunities for improving access and coordination, while acknowledging the risks of digital exclusion for vulnerable families, and considering interoperability of data systems and privacy concerns.
- Preventing exclusion by supporting families through key life transitions. This will highlight the need for strong networks of professionals and communities around families, to improve delivery and outreach.
- Breaking down administrative and governance barriers for better family outreach. This session will cover how to overcome fragmented institutional responsibilities. From challenges to solutions.
