COFACE Families Europe

European expert meeting: Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Europe
2023-03-28 09:00 - 17:30 (Europe/Brussels) | Monza, Italy, Italy
Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Europe
COFACE Disability European expert meeting Tuesday 28th March 2023, 9.00-17.30 Monza, Italy
Read the full meeting report here
The COFACE Disability Platform for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and their Families (COFACE-Disability) was founded by COFACE in 1998 to improve the representativeness of people with disabilities and their families. With more than 20 members, COFACE-Disability fights for the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and for sufficient, appropriate care provision and services, close-to-home and in-home help services for people with support needs and their families to be made available in all Member States, and for resources, assistance and provision to be harmonised within the EU. COFACE-Disability defends the need to develop public care infrastructures supporting persons with disabilities and their families following a life cycle, whole family approach, boosting independent living and meaningful inclusion from birth to old age. This includes service provision that responds to the needs of persons with disabilities and their families but also to the removal of barriers in mainstream services. The topic of this event, inclusive education, lies at the intersection of these two necessary paradigm shifts. Recent EU frameworks such as the EU Child Guarantee, the Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the European Care Strategy, have renewed the impetus around strengthening our education system for more inclusion and resilience. Building on the results of the 2018 COFACE conference on sustainable and future-proof education systems, the COFACE-Disability back-to-school webinar of 2020, the different practices highlighted in the 2021 S.H.I.F.T. report and the expertise of COFACE Disability members, COFACE-Disability and AIAS Monza held a 1-day European expert meeting on inclusive education in Monza (Italy). Taking the Italian system as a starting point for discussion with European peers, we brought together organisations of families of persons with disabilities and service providers, education professionals, persons with disabilities and their families and policy-makers from several countries to examine key actions to implement inclusive education in line with the UNCRPD and the General Comment n4. We aim to apply the COFACE whole-family lens to the topic of inclusive education as a way to build inclusive societies for persons with disabilities and their families:

Education for building independent living and meaningful inclusion in society;
Inclusive education from a life course perspective, namely inclusive education beyond compulsory education;
Looking at the continuum of services between formal and non-formal education with an added focus on culture and sports.

We hope this meeting will foster innovation and knowledge transfer between civil society organisations, create new synergies between COFACE and COFACE Disability members and key Italian and European stakeholders, and contribute to the S.H.I.F.T. towards more inclusive education systems in Europe. Working languages: English and Italian. Participation on invitation only.
See full programme in English.
See full programme in Italian.
Presentations ‘From theory to practice: the challenges and successes of implementing the Italian inclusive school legislation’
Letter by Alessandra Locatelli, Minister for Disabilities, Italy
The challenges and successes of the implementation of Italian legislation on inclusive schools inclusive by Giuseppe Arconzo, Associate Professor in Constitutional law and Rector’s Delegate for Disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders in the University of Study of Milan, Italy
Inclusive education for an inclusive Europe by Elisabeth Lammers, Vice president in charge of European affairs, UNAPEI, France
Presentations ‘Inclusive education at all ages: building blocks for inclusive society’
Inclusive ECEC Services- Special responses for children with disabilities by Renata Nacinovich, MD, Professor of Child Neuropsychiatry University of Milano Bicocca Head of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, S. Gerardo Hospital – ASST Monza Brianza, Italy
Boosting the profession of support teachers in schools by Prof. Antonio Prizio, Head Teacher Istituto Comprensivo Statale “Via Raiberti” Monza, Italy
Presentations ‘Inclusion in non-formal education and lifelong learning’
Sport for inclusion programmes: enriching and empowering persons with disabilities through sports by Cristian Fiora, Certified Club Manager, PGA Elite Golf Professional and AIAS Golftherapy trainer and Training Director AIAS, Italy
The power of artistic collaboration between performers with and without disabilities by Gonçalo Solla, Director, Fundaçao Liga, Portugal. Watch the video of Fundacao Liga’s dance programme ” Plural” here.
Inspiring society with learning hubs for the future of inclusive learning, living and working in Flanders by Femke Houbrechts, Social Innovation and Education Coach, Konekt, Belgium
Presentations ‘What is Europe doing to boost inclusive education?’
Agency work on inclusive education by Antonella Mangiaracina, Policy Officer, European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education
How do we contribute to building inclusion in education? by Eugenia Casariego Artola, Development and Advocacy Coordinator, European Schoolnet
Inclusive education in ESF Flanders by Caroline Meyers, Expert transnational cooperation and knowledge management, Department Werk en Sociale Economie, Belgium
Read the full meeting report here

Online exchange on Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care
2023-03-09 11:30 - 12:30 (Europe/Brussels)
You are welcome to join us on 9th March from 11.30-12.30 CET for an online exchange on quality in Early Childhood Education and Care.

This online meeting is open to all COFACE and COFACE Disability members.
The session will kick off with a presentation by Professor Michel Vandenbroeck on the state of play of quality in ECEC, with a focus on Belgium and Europe (including the Care Strategy and Child Guarantee).
The focus will especially be child-staff ratio as a primary driver for child well-being and family engagement.
This will be followed by a Q&A and exchange with COFACE members about the situation in their countries.
To receive information about registration, please contact lgosme@coface-eu.org
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Background information
2022 European Care Strategy
2022 Council Recommendation on ECEC
2021 COFACE policy brief on ECEC
2018 COFACE New Deal for ECEC

COFACE Communication capacity-building on diverse participation in the 2024 European elections
2023-02-15 09:30 - 12:30 (Europe/Brussels)
COFACE Families Europe is bringing together its members, EU institutions, and European partner organisations for a half-day capacity-building event to discuss key tips and practices to boost diverse participation in the 2024 European elections through communications.
Join us for an opportunity to share your own good practices and learn actionable tips and strategies from other experts in the field to trigger further strategic dynamics in your organisations and communities.
Please note that this is an invitation-only event with priority access for COFACE members and its network.
Working language: English
For more information contact: Bettina Guigui bguigui@coface-eu.org.

See full programme here.

Interventions to support children and youth in the digital environment
2023-02-08 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.
Date
8th February 2023 from 9.30-11.00 CET
Title
Interventions to support children and youth in the digital environment
Speakers
Halla Holmarsdottir, Professor, Faculty of Education and International Studies, Oslo Metropolitan University. Coordinator Horizon 2020 research ‘The Impact of Technological Transformations on the Digital Generation (DigiGen)’.
Holly Shorey, Project and advocacy officer, COFACE Families Europe. Impact manager of DigiGen.
Description
Following 3 years of EU Horizon 2020 research on the impact of digital transformations on children and youth, the “Digital Generation”, fresh insights and recommendations will be presented during the breakfast byte for use by families, practitioners, policy-makers and key industries. DigiGen starts putting a language to what we see, as a society, about children and young people’s everyday digital realities. Instead of relying on moral panics and paternalistic presumptions, we respond to what hundreds of children and young people are telling us about their everyday digital lives. It is clear that the digital generation is made of active digital citizens who can be resilient and responsible participants in the digital civic space if adequately supported and recognised accordingly across their ecosystem: through schools, leisure time, families, and other civic spaces. This can be done by employing a more holistic, child-rights-friendly approach to digital access and competency. Namely that all children across Europe should have:

Access to digital devices, connectivity, and to a digital environment that enables their active participation as digital citizens
Room to develop competency across digital skills, media literacy, and social competences

Achieving this relies on proper governance distribution between EU and national regulation, industry self-regulation, and awareness raising.
More information
www.digigen.eu
Links shared by participants
The OECD published information on regulatory frameworks to foster children’s protection in the digital environment

Apple published a post outlining features and Safer Internet Day activities across Europe in 2023
DigiGen toolkit: “Talk!”
Eurochild published a statement on child online safety
Skills4Parents online HUB
Safely online, a European resource with tips for parents, by Gezinsbond and Child Focus (Belgium)
Online course developed by COFACE and KMOP: School Bullying Management – Effective Skills for Educators
“Más que un móvil” – A guide of the AEPD (data protection agency) in Spain

Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.

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After two great years of connecting with the COFACE Family Lab community through regular breakfast byte webinars looking at different types of supports to families (a support service, a campaign, a policy, a project, and more), join us for more breakfast bytes in 2023.
In 2023, we are focusing on different EU supports for families, including research, policies, education tools and more.
With these breakfast bytes, we aim to increase critical thinking and understanding of family support systems. The target group of the webinars is especially professionals working with families and children but is open to all (researchers, policy-makers, teachers, health workers, families, and more). It is more important than ever to connect professionals through transnational exchanges for cross-border mutual support and care.
Have you missed our breakfast Bytes series so far or you would like to re-watch it? You can find it on COFACE TV, our Youtube channel.

COFACE member exchange on energy poverty
2023-01-17 10:00 - 12:00 (Europe/Brussels)
COFACE member online exchange on energy poverty
17th January 2023 10.00-12.00 CET
This is a internal space for COFACE members to take stock of the energy crisis and its impact on families.
Partnerships
COFACE Families Europe is member of the Right to Energy Coalition.
EU context
Families Corner Newsletter November 2022 What has the EU done to address the energy crisis?
European Commission communication: Tackling rising energy prices: a toolbox for action and support
European Parliament briefing: Energy saving and demand reduction

Transnational Family Dynamics - online brainstorm on the state of play
2022-12-13 14:00 - 16:30 (Europe/Brussels)
Transnational Family Dynamics
COFACE online brainstorm/exchange
13 December 14.00-16.30
COFACE Families Europe is part of a new COST network called Transnational Family Dynamics in Europe which aims to deepen the knowledge of the growing, rapidly changing phenomenon and dynamics of transnational families (TNF) by bringing together researchers and stakeholders from different disciplines and countries to address the need for transnational insights and to formulate policy and practice-oriented recommendations with an impact on international, national, sub-local and local practices. We’re keen to examine to what extent EU social policies cover this reality, kicking off with a brainstorm with researchers and policy shapers on 13th December.
Although transnational families (TNFs) are not a new phenomenon, they have only gained academic interest in recent decades. TNFs reflect critical social, economic and political aspects of globalisation, separate from, but still linked to, the concept of “migrant families”. The shift from migrant families to TNFs can be seen as a reconceptualisation of migration as an “uprooting” life event to the idea that migrants maintain ties to their home societies in many ways. Altogether, research on TNFs has led to the questioning of fundamental concepts and assumptions in research, policy and practice, as an exclusive ‘local’ and ‘sedentary’ focus conflicts with the mobile and/or transnational life of different TNFs and/or with the transnational nature of the challenges they face. Gradually, the concept of transnational families is appearing in public and political debates where TNF ties are seen as both a challenge and an opportunity. While research has acknowledged TNFs as an important societal actor in both sending, transit and receiving countries, migration politics and policies as well as the general public are not yet aware of their central role in different migration regimes and their outcomes. One of the main goals of our Action is to address the relative invisibility of TNFs and to raise awareness among the general public, institutions and policy makers of their existence and multiple realities that impact not only on the lives, well-being and decision-making of migrants and their families but also on various aspects and policies of the societies in which they live, such as the allocation of social protection and healthcare.
Join us for this first brainstorm and exchange! Agenda and registration link here
Further information: Attila Böhm COFACE policy and advocacy officer, abohm@coface-eu.org

Webinar: The Giant’s House – Child Safety and prevention on tour
2022-12-13 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Download the presentation here
Date
13th December 2022 from 9.30-11.00 CET
Title
The Giant’s House –Child Safety and prevention on tour
Speaker
Erik Boon, Event Manager – Project manager The Giant’s House/Reuzenhuis. Gezinsbond vzw, Belgium
Description
Accidents can happen in a tight corner, up a staircase with very high steps, with a saucepan, at the bottom of a deep bath… After all, most homes are not made for a child’s size. Step into the shoes of a young toddler and experience as an adult with an exhibition and new technologies the dangers and discover some useful prevention tips. Get to know how Gezinsbond and Ligue des Familles went on tour in Belgium. And why not … bring it to your country. During the webinar you will get to know more about the project and get some tips on child safety.
More information
www.reuzenhuis.org
www.maisondesgeants.org
Download the presentation here.
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After a great year 2021 connecting with the COFACE Family Lab community through regular breakfast byte webinars looking at different types of supports to families (a support service, a campaign, a policy, a project, and more) we launched a new breakfast byte series again in 2022.
It again focuses on diverse types of family supports across the EU, including campaigns on inclusive education, cross-border recognition of familial ties, family leadership for an inclusive life, employment supports to adults with disabilities, tips for child safety in the home, training of non-formal education staff for working with children with and without special needs, building energy systems which put families before profits and more.
With these breakfast bytes, we aim to increase critical thinking and understanding of family support systems. The target group of the webinars is especially professionals working with families and children but is open to all (researchers, policy-makers, teachers, health workers, families, and more). It is more important than ever to connect professionals through transnational exchanges in order to tackle the social impacts of COVID-19 on families and children.
Did you miss our breakfast Bytes series or you would like to re-watch it? You can find it on COFACE TV, our Youtube channel.

Webinar: Inclusive labour markets: a support service for persons with disabilities to match their skills with employment opportunities
2022-11-22 09:00 - 11:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.
Date
22nd November 2022 from 9.30-11.00 CET
Title
Inclusive labour markets: a support service for persons with disabilities to match their skills with employment opportunities
Speakers
Gonçalo Solla, General Manager at Fundação LIGA, PortugalEmília Mesquita, Case Manager at OED, Fundação LIGA, Portugal
Description
Operação de Emprego para Pessoas com Deficiência (OED) works directly with persons with disabilities to provide meaningful opportunities for employment. It works with persons with disabilities to find employment that fits their skills and needs, whilst also providing follow-up support and training to ensure successful workplace integration. It also interacts directly with employers to ensure that workplaces and recruitment processes are accessible.
OED provides individualised support to persons with disabilities to be able to match them with employment opportunities that fit their skillsets and wishes. This approach allows OED to support sustainable employment for persons with disabilities since they are invested in and supported before and after recruitment. Direct engagement with employers promotes a more diverse and inclusive workforce, providing positive representations of persons with disabilities.
This initiative is a partnership between Fundação LIGA (NGO and COFACE Disability member), Câmara Municipal de Lisboa (Lisbon Municipality) and Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional (Institute of Employment and Vocational Training).
More information
http://www.oed.com.pt
EU context
In September 2022, the European Commission presented Disability Employment Package to support Member States in ensuring that persons with disabilities enjoy social inclusion and economic autonomy through employment. The package is part of the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 and is in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The package includes a Practitioner toolkit on strengthening PES to improve the labour market outcomes of persons with disabilities.

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After a great year 2021 connecting with the COFACE Family Lab community through regular breakfast byte webinars looking at different types of supports to families (a support service, a campaign, a policy, a project, and more) we launched a new breakfast byte series again in 2022.
It again focuses on diverse types of family supports across the EU, including campaigns on inclusive education, cross-border recognition of familial ties, family leadership for an inclusive life, employment supports to adults with disabilities, tips for child safety in the home, training of non-formal education staff for working with children with and without special needs, building energy systems which put families before profits and more.
With these breakfast bytes, we aim to increase critical thinking and understanding of family support systems. The target group of the webinars is especially professionals working with families and children but is open to all (researchers, policy-makers, teachers, health workers, families, and more). It is more important than ever to connect professionals through transnational exchanges in order to tackle the social impacts of COVID-19 on families and children.
Did you miss our breakfast Bytes series or you would like to re-watch it? You can find it on COFACE TV, our Youtube channel.

Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.

Building effective policies to support single parenthood
2022-10-04 09:00 - 16:30 (Europe/Brussels) | Prague, Czech Republic
The COVID-19 pandemic has damaged our societies and economies, and the war in Ukraine is adding further pressure (expanding the number of single parent families in Europe). The situation has also put centre stage the role of families as safety nets while magnifying the shortcomings of our systems which have been ignored for too long. This situation is unacceptable and now is the time to build back better using national and EU policy and legislative tools to achieve greater wellbeing of children and their families, access to high quality, inclusive and community-based services. Co-hosted by COFACE and Women 4 Women Czech Republic, this European expert meeting explored the effectiveness of family policies to address the realities of single parent families.
Single parenthood, like any family type, is not a homogenous block and covers different realities: headed by mothers, fathers, and even by a grandparent raising their grandchildren, having one child or being a large family, being from a migrant background, having a child or parent with disabilities. According to a recently commissioned European Parliament study, single parenthood is becoming more common in the EU, and the majority of single parent households are headed by women. For some people, single parenthood is a choice. But for many it is not, and linked to a series of life events they have not chosen. Children in single parent families do not necessarily have any more needs than children in other types of families, but their vulnerabilities will increase due to heightened risk of poverty and exclusion of their parent. Compared to couples with children, single parents do have higher rates of living in a household with low work intensity, at-risk-of-poverty (AROP), or material deprivation. More here. The share of single parents among all households with children varies considerably from one country to another in the European Union, from more than 20% in Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and France to less than 9% in countries like Croatia, Romania, Finland, Greece, Slovakia, Malta, Poland, Spain, Slovenia. More here.
Each policy should aim for universal results by triggering a two-track way of thinking from the beginning (i.e. mixing universal measures for all families and targeted measures for families in vulnerable situations). This cannot be treated in parallel or one after the other, this universal particularism needs to be integrated in the thinking from the outset. This will allow for policies that aim to prevent and redress the situation, mobilising all levels of governance in an integrated way. In order to do that, the policy-making should be more inclusive and allow concerned families and their representative organizations to participate to their shaping, monitoring and evaluation.
The European expert meeting objectives were the following:

Explore the reality of single parents across different EU countries, using a multi-generation lens;
Discuss existing challenges and solutions in policy and practice;
Review family policies to integrate and respond to diverse needs of families of today, in light of developments under the EU Child Guarantee action plans;
Boost the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, namely principles 2 (gender equality), 3 (equal opportunities), 9 (work-life balance) and access to childcare and support to children (11)

See the programmes in English and Czech.
See full meeting report in English

Presentations
Supporting single parents and their children under the EU Child Guarantee: objectives, plans, partnerships. by Martina Štěpánková Štýbrová – Director of Department of Family Policy and Protection of Children´s Rights, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Czechia.
Beyond family policy: The effectiveness of policies to address the realities of single parents in the European Union by Rense Nieuwenhuis, Associate Professor in Sociology, Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University
Study session 1: Mental health and work-life balance

Mary Halloran, Board Member, Irish Countrywomen’s Association, Ireland

Study session 2: Policies which reach out to single-parent realities

Rasa Zemaite, Coordinator, National Assembly of Active Mothers, Lithuania
Daniel Alvarez, Project Manager, Isadora Duncan Single-Parent Foundation, Spain

Study session 3: Separation, mediation, and blended families

Evelyn Martin, Honorary Chairperson, ÖPA, Austria

Study session 4: Housing solutions for social and economic integration

Nina Ould Ami, President of the Fédération Syndical des Familles Monoparentales, France

Stepping up implementation of the EU Child Guarantee: National action plans in the spotlight
2022-09-27 09:30 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels) | Berlin, Germany
By calling on EU Member States to guarantee access to basic rights and services for children in need and their families, the Child Guarantee represents a pivotal and timely instrument to enhance the protection of children experiencing poverty and social exclusion. Moreover, it lays the foundation for a stronger social and equity-driven Europe. Over the last months, it has been up to each EU Member State to draw up their Child Guarantee national action plans to outline how the framework will concretely be implemented in their respective countries until 2030.
The war in Ukraine and the ensuing crisis shows again that it is by consolidating family support systems, based on a mix of resources, services, and leaves which are accessible to all families without discrimination, that the European Union will be resilient and strong enough to absorb shocks.
COFACE and AGF hosted an expert meeting in Berlin to:

examine the measures highlighted in the national action plans on the Child Guarantee to boost family supports;
study policy and service solutions to enhance child and family well-being;
bring together family policy-makers working to improve outcomes for children and their families;
boost the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan.

Working languages: English and German
Participation on invitation only.
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Key takeaways

Technical guidelines for implementation was highlighted as one way to support national ministries in the implementation process. Guidelines on measurement, indicators, monitoring, evaluation. Going via the Technical Support Instrument is a great opportunity of course, and used by many with lots of added value. But maybe an operational document with general technical guidelines (and not country-specific) could boost implementation further.
The biennial European Commission report on implementation could include both policy and funding updates, namely on the use of EU funds for the Child Guarantee.
Working in partnership with the target groups remains central, and civil society organisations are there to facilitate this.
Child participation can take many forms, from more simple to more elaborate forms. That diversity of participation forms can be a big help to bring the voices of children to the process in a meaningful way.
The importance of the Child Guarantee coordinator cannot be underestimated, to bring a transversal approach to the implementation process and to function as ambassador for the Child Guarantee in other ministries.
Key governance pointers were mentioned such as having a focal point on the CG in each ministry or in each region, creating a children’s council, building interdepartmental committees for coordination, developing local action plans (relevant given regional/local differences highlighted today), allocating specific budgets for implementation in national budgets but also in the EU funds.
Whether building on existing laws or developing new laws, any approach is relevant, respected and valued. However, two points are essential: embedding the Child Guarantee as much as possible in national legal&policy processes, and also ensuring that family diversity is recognized in national legislation, to ensure full access to social rights and financial supports to deal with difficult life transitions.
The challenges of today are many (COVID, war, inflation), but they can help highlight gaps in our social systems and help focus on filling these gaps.

See full meeting report here

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Useful links
May 2019: Council Recommendation on High-Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Systems
This recommendation identifies 5 key components of a qualitative system: access to early childhood education and care; training and working conditions of staff in charge of early childhood education and care; definition of appropriate curricula; governance and funding; monitoring and evaluation of systems. The Quality Framework has already supported reforms in many countries and helped improving the offer of early childhood education and care.
June 2021: Council Recommendation establishing a European Child Guarantee
In September 2022, the following countries had published their National Action Plans on the Child Guarantee: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden. More here
December 2022: Council Recommendation on Early childhood education and care
This was adopted by the Council of the EU as part of the European Care Strategy package launched on 7th September, and should be adopted by the Council of the EU by end of 2022. More here
Alliance for investing in Children
The EU Alliance for Investing in Children brings together over 20 European networks sharing a commitment to end child poverty and to promote child well-being across Europe.

Webinar: Quality assurance in early childhood education and care services
2022-09-20 09:00 - 11:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.
Date
20th September 2022 from 9.30-11.00 CET
Title
Quality assurance in early childhood education and care services
Speaker
Sven Iversen, Managing Director. AGF (Association of Family organisations), Germany.
Description
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has undergone major dynamics and changes throughout the last years in Germany. There are discrepancies between families’ reported needs for places in early childhood education and care and the actual participation rates of children attending early childhood services. Still, the proportion of children under three years of age that attend publicly subsidised community-based early childhood education and care or family day care is increasing continuously.
From the perspective of the family organisations joined under the umbrella of AGF in Germany the following aspects of the quality of ECEC services have to be taken into account: general access to childcare and its opening hours, qualification and training of professionals, professional-child-ratio and maximum group size, development of guidelines for pedagogic work, training and educational partnership as well as long-term quality assurance.
Join us to hear about the work of AGF which has been advocating for strong investments in early childhood and closely monitoring the European Child Guarantee developments.
More information
https://www.ag-familie.de/home/dokumente.html?en
EU context
There are similar dynamics and challenges in many countries regarding the development of quality early childhood education and care, which is why the European Union has taken different initiatives in the last years:
May 2019: Council Recommendation on High-Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Systems
This recommendation identifies 5 key components of a qualitative system: access to early childhood education and care; training and working conditions of staff in charge of early childhood education and care; definition of appropriate curricula; governance and funding; monitoring and evaluation of systems. The Quality Framework has already supported reforms in many countries and helped improving the offer of early childhood education and care.
June 2021: Council Recommendation establishing a European Child Guarantee
On the day of the breakfast byte webinar, the following countries have published their National Action Plans on the Child Guarantee: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden. More here
September 2022: Proposal for a Council Recommendation on Early childhood education and care
This was proposed by the European Commission as part of the European Care Strategy package launched on 7th September, and should be adopted by the Council of the EU by end of 2022. More here
_______________________

After a great year 2021 connecting with the COFACE Family Lab community through regular breakfast byte webinars looking at different types of supports to families (a support service, a campaign, a policy, a project, and more) we launched a new breakfast byte series again in 2022.
It is focusing on diverse types of family supports across the EU, including campaigns on inclusive education, cross-border recognition of familial ties, family leadership for an inclusive life, employment supports to adults with disabilities, tips for child safety in the home, training of non-formal education staff for working with children with and without special needs, building energy systems which put families before profits and more.
With these breakfast bytes, we aim to increase critical thinking and understanding of family support systems. The target group of the webinars is especially professionals working with families and children but is open to all (researchers, policy-makers, teachers, health workers, families, and more). It is more important than ever to connect professionals through transnational exchanges in order to tackle the social impacts of COVID-19 on families and children.
Did you miss our breakfast Bytes series or you would like to re-watch it? You can find it on COFACE TV, our Youtube channel.

Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.

European Expert Meeting on Gender Equality, Sustainability & Workplace Wellbeing co-hosted by Pro Parents Netherlands & COFACE Families Europe
2022-06-14 | The Netherlands
Good practices, better workplaces
Family friendly workplaces as cornerstone for an economy which cares
Video summary of the expert meeting and objectives
Meeting report with key findings
A chance to build back better
Working families around the globe were dramatically impacted by the changes COVID-19 brought. Increasing anxieties around job security, mounting home schooling demands, and radical birth and postpartum plan shifts have taken the small safety net around families away. We are still in the phase of covid recovery, gearing up for the next normal in work and life. There is an opportunity to build back better and coordinate a societal shift both at home and in the workplace. We need to redefine the future of work and how we envision care and work. How caretaking responsibilities are organized to ensure that people with care responsibilities (mostly women and or mothers, but also family members who take care of elderly relatives or relatives with disabilities) are properly represented in the workplace.
Creating the building blocks
With the Sustainable Development Goals 1 (no poverty), 3 (health and well-being), 5 (gender equality) and 8 (decent work and economic growth) in mind, the objective of this European expert meeting was to create the building blocks for a caring economy by:

connecting families, policy-makers and employers in order to collect best practices for family-friendly workplaces and create European guidelines to help employers create a culture shift;
upscaling good practices from The Netherlands to other countries, and encourage further cross-country exchanges;
preparing the future of work to deal with labour market challenges due to gender inequality and the lack of appropriate work life balance measures, such as female under-representation, absenteeism, loss of talent and talent shortages, mental health issues and more;
studying solutions to improve gender equality in the labour market;
boosting the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, namely principles 2 (gender equality), 3 (equal opportunities) and 9 (work-life balance).

Full programme available here.

About the co-hosts
COFACE Families Europe promotes the well-being, health, social inclusion and security of families and family members in our ever-changing society. We serve as a trusted entity to voice the issues and needs of families in Europe. We advocate non-discrimination policies and equal opportunities for individuals as well as for families in all shapes and sizes. Our support specifically goes out to policies and initiatives aimed at increasing equality between women and men, focused on a union of work, care and family life.
Pro Parents Netherlands is on a mission to reinvent the way companies support their employees on the path to parenthood. With science based parental health policies and practices for employers who wish to commit to gender inclusion. In addition, Pro Parents is building an Employer benefit platform for parents @work, to help navigate the joy and journey for parents at work.

Presentations
Gender Inclusion, Interrelated health of children and their parents in the first 1000 days by Prof. Dr. Tessa Roseboom, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Dismantling discriminatory social norms in the workplace by Marie Toulemonde, Gender specialist, United Nations Population Fund, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Adelina Tërshani, Program Officer for Women’s Economic Empowerment, Kosovo Women’s Network, Kosovo
Key steps to build inclusive employership by Helen Gleis, Project Manager Diversity & Inclusion, BDO Netherlands
Why We Need Workplace Wellbeing Strategies: Evidence from the Netherlands by Mara Yerkes, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science,Utrecht University
Supporting employers to build parent equality organisational culture by Sylwia Ziemacka, Council member, Share the Care Foundation, Poland
Equality, Father- and Family-Friendliness by Marina Wetzer-Karlsson, Programme Director, Väestöliitto, Family Federation of Finland
A label for carer-friendly workplaces by Lucie Boulier, Cap’Handéo Policy officer, Handéo Services, France
Supporting working parents with young children by Pro Parents (Authors: J. Knappe, N. van Kesteren, W. Hooftman)

Sharing Time to Improve Mental Health and Social Cohesion: The Example of Time Banks
2022-05-17 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Brussels) | Online
Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.
Date
17th May 2022 from 9.30-11.00 CET
Title
Sharing Time to Improve Mental Health and Social Cohesion: The Example of Time Banks
Speaker
Elvira Méndez, General Director, Associació Salut i Família, Spain
Description
The Associació Salut i Família has been promoting for more than twenty years the creation of free service exchange networks between people who live and / or work in the same neighborhood, town or city. These networks for the exchange of services, skills, knowledge and relationships between people take the hour of time as a unit of value and exchange.
Time Banks are a new social institution open to all those who wish to improve the quality of their daily life by giving, receiving and sharing their time with respect for others and a desire for reciprocity. They promote social cohesion, trust, friendship, solidarity and good treatment among people who are partners; and offer their members a wide range of services and possibilities. Thus, the members can exchange knowledge and hobbies, help with daily life tasks, take care of animals and plants, keep people company, solve small domestic breakdowns and, also, can share all kinds of group activities. Time Banks are a tool for social inclusion for newcomers, they promote intergenerational exchange and improve the reconciliation of personal, family and work life under conditions of equality between men and women.
Join us online to hear more and consider how to implement a time bank in your country.
More information
https://saludyfamilia.es/es/bancos-del-tiempo-cohesion-social/bancos-del-tiempo
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After a great year 2021 connecting with the COFACE Family Lab community through regular breakfast byte webinars looking at different types of supports to families (a support service, a campaign, a policy, a project, and more) we launched a new breakfast byte series again in 2022.
It again focuses on diverse types of family supports across the EU, including campaigns on inclusive education, cross-border recognition of familial ties, family leadership for an inclusive life, employment supports to adults with disabilities, tips for child safety in the home, training of non-formal education staff for working with children with and without special needs, building energy systems which put families before profits and more.
With these breakfast bytes, we aim to increase critical thinking and understanding of family support systems. The target group of the webinars is especially professionals working with families and children but is open to all (researchers, policy-makers, teachers, health workers, families, and more). It is more important than ever to connect professionals through transnational exchanges in order to tackle the social impacts of COVID-19 on families and children.
Did you miss our breakfast Bytes series or you would like to re-watch it? You can find it on COFACE TV, our Youtube channel.
Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.

COFACE Disability annual meeting
2022-05-12 10:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
The annual meeting of the COFACE Disability platform (for the rights of persons with disability, their families and their carers) will take place on 12th May 2022 – save the date!

Updates on national developments including the long-term impacts of COVID-19, and how Europe can support families of children and adults with disabilities;
Updates on EU frameworks including the European Disability Rights Strategy, the transposition of the EU work-life balance directive, EU Child Guarantee, and the upcoming European Care Strategy;
Further analysis of the practices in the S.H.I.F.T. report published end 2021, and discussions on next steps;
Consolidating partnerships with European NGOs and other key stakeholders.

Working languages: English and French.
Please note this meeting is open to members only.

Cross-border recognition of familial ties within the European Union
2022-04-19 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.
Date
19th April 2022 from 9.30-11.00 CET
Title
Cross-border recognition of familial ties within the European Union
Speaker
Björn Sieverding. Father of two and NELFA Board member. LSVD, Germany
Description
Rainbow families within the EU still face many problems when they attempt to exercise their free movement rights. Same-sex couples cease to exist when crossing a border, children lose their legal ties to (at least one of) their parents. More and more cases show the urgent need to change the situation.
The European Commission is working on a legislative proposal on recognition of parenthood across EU borders.
This webinar will present the results of a study conducted on this topic in 2021, giving more evidence of the existing obstacles and offering a range of recommendations to the EU institutions and Member States on why and how they could push for a better cross-border recognition of rainbow families.

More information
NELFA website
Study: Obstacles to the Free Movement of Rainbow Families in the EU

Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.
_______________________

After a great year 2021 connecting with the COFACE Family Lab community through regular breakfast byte webinars looking at different types of supports to families (a support service, a campaign, a policy, a project, and more) we launched a new breakfast byte series again in 2022.
It again focuses on diverse types of family supports across the EU, including campaigns on inclusive education, cross-border recognition of familial ties, family leadership for an inclusive life, employment supports to adults with disabilities, tips for child safety in the home, training of non-formal education staff for working with children with and without special needs, building energy systems which put families before profits and more.
With these breakfast bytes, we aim to increase critical thinking and understanding of family support systems. The target group of the webinars is especially professionals working with families and children but is open to all (researchers, policy-makers, teachers, health workers, families, and more). It is more important than ever to connect professionals through transnational exchanges in order to tackle the social impacts of COVID-19 on families and children.
Did you miss our breakfast Bytes series or you would like to re-watch it? You can find it on COFACE TV, our Youtube channel.

Incluso - A training and resource centre for professional staff in non-formal education
2022-03-22 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.
Date
22nd March 2022 from 9.30-11.00 CET
Title
Incluso – A training and resource centre for professional staff in non-formal education
Speaker
Carole Greiveldinger, Incluso Programme Coordinator. APEMH, Luxembourg.
Description
The Incluso resource centre in Luxembourg offers advice and support on inclusion to non-formal education professionals and parents, as well as to anyone interested in the subject, in order to promote and develop inclusive early childhood education and child care services. The UNCRPD principles are fully embedded in Incluso’s everyday work in so far as they consider them to be universal pedagogical/educational principles for professionals when working with children/families (with or without disabilities). Hence, they are fully integrated in the wide range of services they offer such as trainings, workshops, evaluations, coaching, meeting spaces.
The goal of Incluso is to encourage the development of inclusive approaches and practices to increase the number of childcare services implementing such an approach. It aims to raise awareness of education professionals about the subject of including children with special needs in mainstream childcare services, supporting them in working out projects for children with special needs, and finally developing the professional skills of childcare providers to meet the individual needs of every child (with or without disabilities) in an inclusive setting. The UNCRPD is one of the guiding documents for these trainings. For Incluso, the basic principles of an inclusive approach to education are the following: the child as actor of their own competences, the environment adapting to the needs of the child, and finally equality of opportunity and equity of means, in line with the objectives of the UNCRPD as specified in the General Comment number 4.
More information
Incluso webpage
Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.
_______________________
After a great year 2021 connecting with the COFACE Family Lab community through regular breakfast byte webinars looking at different types of supports to families (a support service, a campaign, a policy, a project, and more) we launched a new breakfast byte series again in 2022.
It again focuses on diverse types of family supports across the EU, including campaigns on inclusive education, cross-border recognition of familial ties, family leadership for an inclusive life, employment supports to adults with disabilities, tips for child safety in the home, training of non-formal education staff for working with children with and without special needs, building energy systems which put families before profits and more.
With these breakfast bytes, we aim to increase critical thinking and understanding of family support systems. The target group of the webinars is especially professionals working with families and children but is open to all (researchers, policy-makers, teachers, health workers, families, and more). It is more important than ever to connect professionals through transnational exchanges in order to tackle the social impacts of COVID-19 on families and children.
Did you miss our breakfast Bytes series or you would like to re-watch it? You can find it on COFACE TV, our Youtube channel.

European expert meeting: The position of larger families with children in society. Strengths and barriers
2022-03-15 | Ljubljana, Slovenia
Using the COFACE Child Compass as a starting point, this European expert meeting focused on the features of large families and the challenges they experience in Europe today, taking stock of the situation in different countries and collecting good practices. The reflections were based on the premise that all children must have equal opportunities and be treated equally regardless of their family settings, and modern 21st-century family support systems should be able to factor in this diversity of needs without discrimination. This European expert meeting was held in hybrid format (offline/online) for COFACE members, local participants in Slovenia, and EU stakeholders working on similar goals.
The objectives of this expert meeting

Connect the Slovenian and European realities on families;
Build on the findings of the 2020 COFACE expert meeting on single parent families and large families;
Collection of information on changing patterns in large families of today, including blended and recomposed families;
Consulting national/regional/local level of the civil society on innovative practices in supports to large families;
Encourage knowledge transfer across EU countries on promoting the rights of families and children;
Develop common actions and positions, to mainstream the family perspective in EU policy discussions on the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the EU child guarantee, the transposition of the EU Work-life balance directive, the EU Child Rights strategy and more.

About the hosts
COFACE Families Europe is a European civil society network representing families (all types, without discrimination), through its 50+ organisations across 23 countries, shaping EU policy and legislation which impacts families: www.coface-eu.org. We monitor a wide range of policies which impact the lives of families and children including worklife balance, disability, education, consumer policy, migration and digitalisation.
The Family Initiative is an association for a family-friendly society that connects primarily parents and other people who consider for family’s needs. We have combined knowledge and influence since 1998 to make Slovenia as family-friendly state. We monitor what the government does or not in the field of family policy and inform the wider community about families and their needs. We also work with government to improve family policy on national level. The Family Initiative is a full member of COFACE.
Programme
Check out the full programme in English
Working languages
English and Slovenian
Meeting report
Key reflections and findings
Presentations
Interrelated well-being of children and their families by Dominic Richardson, Chief, Social and Economic policy, UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti
Families with more children in the education system by Anton Meden PhD, a father of five and former president of Association of Parents’ Council Working Groups of Slovenia, Slovenia
Family-friendly policies in Trentino by Luciano Mafer, Director, Agenzia per la Famiglia, Tento, Italy
Large families: demographic relevance and targeted measures by Balázs Molnár, Vice-President of Maria Kopp Institute for Demography and Families, Hungary

#FacturasImposibles - A campaign calling for an energy system that puts families before profit
2022-02-15 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.
Date
15th February 2022 from 9.30-11.00 CET
Title
#FacturasImposibles : A campaign calling for an energy system that puts families before profit
Speakers
Daniel Alvarez, Projects manager. Isadora Duncan, Spain.
Kieran Pradeep, Climate Justice and Energy Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Europe.
Description
This breakfast byte will focus on a campaign of Isadora Duncan which highlights how rising energy prices are affecting families in Spain and across Europe, and the need to launch public debates on access to energy as a basic citizenship right. Their campaign #FacturasImposibles puts the focus on the over-indebtedness challenges generated by the “bono social” in Spain, a social discount for energy provision provided by the Government which is flawed in its design. Isadora Duncan calls for families to participate more actively in shaping the policy tools that prevent or tackle energy poverty. A representative from the Right To Energy Coalition will respond to this campaign highlighting actions which can be taken at EU level to address this and related challenges.
More information
It’s impossible – Family Management (gestionfamiliar.es)
El impacto de la subida de la luz en los hogares vulnerables – EPIU (getafe.es)
Right to Energy Coalition | Take Action to End Energy Poverty in Europe

_______________________
After a great year 2021 connecting with the COFACE Family Lab community through regular breakfast byte webinars looking at different types of supports to families (a support service, a campaign, a policy, a project, and more) we launched a new breakfast byte series again in 2022.
It again focuses on diverse types of family supports across the EU, including campaigns on inclusive education, cross-border recognition of familial ties, family leadership for an inclusive life, employment supports to adults with disabilities, tips for child safety in the home, training of non-formal education staff for working with children with and without special needs, building energy systems which put families before profits and more.
With these breakfast bytes, we aim to increase critical thinking and understanding of family support systems. The target group of the webinars is especially professionals working with families and children but is open to all (researchers, policy-makers, teachers, health workers, families, and more). It is more important than ever to connect professionals through transnational exchanges in order to tackle the social impacts of COVID-19 on families and children.
Did you miss our breakfast Bytes series or you would like to re-watch it? You can find it on COFACE TV, our Youtube channel.
Download the presentation slides of this webinar here.

A Closer Look at Single Parenting – every day challenges and solutions
2022-01-25 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Date
Tuesday 25th January 2022 from 9.30-11.00 CET.
Title
A Closer Look at Single Parenting – every day challenges and solutions.
Speaker
The online talk will be given by Anna Nagy, Single Parents’ Centre, chairperson of the board.
Description
This breakfast byte will start by addressing key questions in relation to single parenting namely the main challenges when raising a child on your own; what are the areas in parents’ and children’s life influenced by living with only one parent; and what are the main sources of conflict in single parent families.
This will be followed by a presentation of different ways to help these families, the kind of programmes run by the Single Parents Centre in Budapest providing a wide range of supports (eg single parent clubs, digital parenting, summer camps for children, respite services, support for single fathers and more).
Whether you are a parent or professional, join us for this deep dive into the world of single parenting with a specific focus on Hungary.
For further information visit https://www.egyszulo.hu/english

_______________________
After a great year 2021 connecting with the COFACE Family Lab community through regular breakfast byte webinars looking at different types of supports to families (a support service, a campaign, a policy, a project, and more) we launched a new breakfast byte series again in 2022.
It again focuses on diverse types of family supports across the EU, including campaigns on inclusive education, cross-border recognition of familial ties, family leadership for an inclusive life, employment supports to adults with disabilities, tips for child safety in the home, training of non-formal education staff for working with children with and without special needs, building energy systems which put families before profits and more.
With these breakfast bytes, we aim to increase critical thinking and understanding of family support systems. The target group of the webinars is especially professionals working with families and children but is open to all (researchers, policy-makers, teachers, health workers, families, and more). It is more important than ever to connect professionals through transnational exchanges in order to tackle the social impacts of COVID-19 on families and children.
Did you miss our breakfast Bytes series or you would like to re-watch it? You can find it on COFACE TV, our Youtube channel.

Family mediation: addressing conflicts between parents and children in adolescence
2021-12-14 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Helsinki)
Speaker
By Gregorio Gullón, Mediator and Family and Couple Therapist. Expert in Psychological Disorders in Children and Adolescents.
Working language
English
Description
Adolescence in children can be a time of crisis in the family. They get stuck in their life cycle, and it is important that we professionals can help them grow. At UNAF we know that there is a relationship between the behaviours presented by adolescents and the particular modes of communication and family relations. The mediation professional will try to help family members to modify these communication models in order to unblock their difficulties and achieve a relationship that allows them to grow as individuals and as a system. At present we are faced with new realities that generate situations of great vulnerability in the family, such as the reunification of minors with their migrant families after years of separation, adopted minors who, on reaching adolescence, present difficulties in their process of individuation and construction of identity, adolescents coming from difficult divorces, or trapped and triangulated in marital difficulties with their parents…which all require specific interventions. Moreover, we understand that new forms of intervention are necessary, where the training of the family members is the main resource on which we, the professionals of family intervention, can count on.
In this same line, mediation will allow parents to move away from inherited, rigid educational patterns that will not allow them to adapt to the needs and uniqueness of their children, providing a regulatory and validating environment. The SMFHA (Mediation Service for Families with Adolescent Children) will try to help parents to be containers of their children’s emotions, to generate validating environments, encouraging appropriate responses. In our presentation we will talk about the model of intervention carried out by SMFHA, which is a model of systemic mediation with the whole family group, understanding the behaviour of the adolescent as a symptom of difficulty in the family. Our work follows an epigenetic model, focusing on reconstructing a belonging, a healthy dependence of the adolescent on his significant figures in the family, which generates safe attachment models so necessary at this time in the life cycle of the adolescent and the family. We are backed by a history of 15 years and more than 700 families served.
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More information about the other webinars in the Breakfast Byte series.

Parent-child relationships in the digital era
2021-11-22 | Online
This policy and advocacy session took place online with 70 stakeholders present from a variety of backgrounds (children, parents, family professionals, teachers, ICT industry, researchers, national and EU policy-makers and more) from 29 countries. A couple of key topics were discussed with key messages and recommendations emerging, providing some of the latest research and listening to the opinions of children, families and professionals, on challenges and solutions.

Policy and advocacy session on parent-child relationships in the digital era

22nd November 2022 – 14.00-16.15 CET
Full programme
The role of families in supporting and guiding children in the realisation of their rights and in harnessing the opportunities of the digital environment will be the focus of the online COFACE policy and advocacy session on 22nd November 2021 for World Children’s Day.
Participants and objectives of the online session
We are delighted to welcome speakers from the Horizon 2020 research project DigiGen and Better Internet for Kids Youth ambassadors for this online session, together with key stakeholders for the discussion including COFACE members, researchers, policy-makers, NGOs, children, families and any stakeholders interested in the impact of digital transformations on parent-child relations. The objectives of the session are multiple:

Consult a wide range of stakeholders on ICT and the impact on family life about key measures needed to support parent-child relationships in the digital era;
Encourage knowledge transfer across EU countries on the impact of digitalisation on family life;
Present results of the DigiGen Horizon2020 research on the impact of digital transformations and families;
Promote lifelong learning, to keep up with the rapid changes that digital technology is bringing to the world;
Ensure child rights are respected in the online world, with a focus on building a safer internet and online participation.

________________
ICT use and its impact on family life
The parent-child relationship has changed significantly in the last two decades with the advent of the digital age, even more since the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, and the general perception is that technology has caused a deterioration of family relations. But fresh evidence from European research shows that the picture is more nuanced. A recently published DigiGen review indicates that the ways families engage with digital technologies are complex and have varying effects. On the one hand, ICT offers unique opportunities for all family members. On the other hand, children – and adults – face online risks and challenges. It shows that the ways families engage with digital technologies are complex.
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Background and EU context
A year ago, COFACE Families Europe adopted its Child Compass 2030: For a Europe which invests in shaping a healthy society, environment, and economy fit for children. It is a comprehensive, integrated, and long-term strategy to develop appropriate 21st-century policies to support both children and their families. The Compass offers a conceptual framework situating the child and their family at the core of a system with 5 priorities and interlinked spheres of influence on individual child and family health and well-being: Education, Community, Digital Technology, Economy, and Environment. Since then, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has adopted general comment 25 on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment and the European Commission has published an EU strategy on the Rights of the Child which covers many of the dimensions covered in the Compass, including strong recommendations on tackling child rights in the digital environment. Additionally, the European Commission’s Strategy for a Better Internet for Children is currently under revision, and will contribute to set new ambitious goals, covering emerging digital technologies. Finally, the European Pillar of Social Rights is addressing the digital divide and inequalities in access to digital hardware and services.
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Photo: ©Fertnig via Canva.com

Discover the world through the eyes of a child at the House of Giants in Brussels
2021-11-10 - 2021-11-20 | Brussels, Belgium
Imagine walking through a giant-sized house, each object has been tripled in size, allowing you to see it through the eyes of a child aged 0 to 5. As you walk through the rooms, you discover the risks and the best ways to prevent accidents for your own children. That’s what the House of Giants is all about and much more!
COFACE Families Europe is supporting the Brussels opening of this immersive exhibition on the 10th of November which aims to bring awareness to the importance of safety for children in the household.
Inside the House of Giants, parents are put at their child’s height and invited to wander through the different rooms where all the volumes have tripled in size. The public is thus playfully invited to climb on the toilet, to carry a frying pan, to grasp a false knife, etc.
The House of Giants will take place in Brussels from 10 to 20 November 2021 at Basilique Koekelberg (more here in Dutch and French).
Book your spot here for the opening on 10th November at 9.30am (see the full programme).

Building peer support to family carers of persons with disabilities
2021-10-12 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Online
Date
Tuesday 12th October 2021, 9.30-11.00 CET
Speaker
By Chantal Bruno, co-president of COFACE Disability and member of the RePairs Aidants Steering group
Marielle Rolinat, mother and caregiver of a child with multiple disabilities, and peer-trainer for RePairs Aidants
Working language
English, French
Description
Several million family caregivers regularly help, by default or by choice, one or more people around them for health or disability reasons. This help/support may be provided on a permanent or temporary basis and may take various forms, including care, educational and social support, administrative formalities, travel, coordination, psychological support or domestic activities.
Since 2017, APF France handicap has been offering an awareness-raising/training action called “RePairs Aidants” so that these caregivers are supported in their need for information and sharing, but also so that they know how to take care of themselves.
“RePairs Aidants” has the particularity of relying on caregivers from its conception and in its management. In the same way, it is carried out by caregivers, called “peer trainers” and professionals, called “pro trainers”. Once trained, they work in pairs with groups of family caregivers on one or more of the 10 proposed themes.
1,321 family carers have already benefited from these awareness/training sessions free of charge throughout France.

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More information about the other webinars in the Breakfast Byte series.
Missed it? You can watch the talks of the 2021 Breakfast bytes on our COFACE TV.

Family Group conferencing – a right and opportunity for every person and every family”
2021-09-14 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Online
Date
Tuesday 14th September 2021, 9.30-11.00 CET
Speaker
By Maria Petkova is an executive director of Tulip Foundation since its establishment in 2004, and trainer on the Rights of the child and Family Group Conferencing.
Working language
English
Description
Each family is unique with its own culture, personalities, history. Each family has its happy moments and difficult times. Families are usually able to cope with various problems with children, young people, and parents by themselves. The family is a natural protective system. Humans need to be part of group / community, in which they receive support and contribute while having control on their lives. There are also cases when professional help from institutions or services is necessary.
Family group conferencing makes the bridge. It is a way to find solutions to various problems as children, parents, members of the extended family, friends come together to make a plan. It allows people to restore and strengthen relationships and build practical support schemes for their children, parents, communities. The problems could be related to health, poverty, unemployment, child care, social exclusion, relations, racism, domestic violence, education, crime, mental health, care for older people etc. Tulip Foundation introduced the approach in Bulgaria a few years ago. The presentation includes the principles and the practice of Family group conferencing, the fields of life in which it is used as a powerful tool in prevention, early / crisis intervention and the effects on children and families. It is rights based model in compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
More Information: www.tulipfoundation.net
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More information about the other webinars in the Breakfast Byte series.

How babies influence the boardroom: supporting both parents and their employers with maternal & paternal wellbeing at work
2021-06-15 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Online
Date
Tuesday 15th June 2021, 9.30-11.00 CET
Speaker
By Joyce Knappe, CEO Managing Director Pro Parents, Parent & Family Therapist & Organizational Anthropologist, The Netherlands
Working language
English
Description
“No one has ever asked me if I was comfortable being a full-time breadwinner and the fact that I was missing important milestones in my children’s lives. The fact that the new generation of men is no longer willing to sacrifice… committed themselves to being present in their children’s emotional space, next to their wives – is basically fantastic”.
Organizations & society need to press the ‘refresh’ button on Gender Equality. Women don’t need fixing. Men don’t need blaming. Empowering women is not about excluding men. It is about a life well lived. Both genders suffer from ‘the pressure to be it all’, especially the ambivalent relationship dads may feel between childcare duties and societal views of masculinity. Fathers increasingly want to be part of their children’s ’emotional space’ and this actually brings them a healthy partner- relationship and a life well lived.
This webinar will talk about supports to both parents and their employers with maternal & paternal wellbeing at work.
More here: www.proparents.nl
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More here about the other webinars in the Breakfast Byte series.

Housing and other connected support for single mothers
2021-05-18 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Online
Date
Tuesday 18th May 2021, 9.30-11.00 CET
Speaker
By Michaela Marksova, Consultant, Women for Women
Working language
English
Description
In case of Czech Republic, there is no system of public housing for single parents and their children (and no system of public housing in general, only system of social benefits some of which are used for rents). One of the challenges is, that for renting an accommodation on the market you have to pay caution for 3 months’ rent, which the single families cannot afford.
Women for Women is a private organisation focused on single families. One of its project is to help single parents with accommodation. In many cases it is sufficient to pay the caution and then single families can already live without further support. Some of the families, however, can also be offered free one-year-accommodation. For single parents, who struggle with other issues (domestic violence or finding a job), W4W also offer help in a complex programme including psychotherapy and training for job skills. To take part in the therapy and training is a condition to get the yearly free accommodation.
So far the website https://women-for-women.cz/ is only in Czech language.

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More information about the other webinars in the Breakfast Byte series.
Missed it? You can watch the talks of the 2021 Breakfast bytes on our COFACE TV.

S.H.I.F.T.: JOIN our online session on the transition towards meaningful inclusion in Europe
2021-05-11 14:00 - 16:15 (Europe/Helsinki) | Online
From words to actions – shedding light on the S.H.I.F.T. towards meaningful inclusion in Europe

11th May 2021
14.00-16.15 CET
Online
The S.H.I.F.T. guide for the inclusion of persons with disabilities and their families, adopted end 2019 by COFACE, was the result of a long co-production work with the COFACE Disability Platform for the rights of persons with disabilities, their families and their carers.
It is composed of 5 objectives, 15 tools, and 45 actions in the areas of Support, Human rights, Independence, Families and society Transition to achieve meaningful inclusion of persons with disabilities and their families.
We are keen to bring S.H.I.F.T to the next level, to reflect on the framework and to launch of a European collection of good practices. The shift towards inclusive societies for persons with disabilities, their families and their carers, is not a dream, but happening already in many countries and communities across Europe. With the recent adoption of the 2021-2030 European Disability Rights Strategy, the EU commits to fulfill the promises of the UNCRPD, COFACE wants to show how our guide S.H.I.F.T. can be used to advance this agenda and how actors all over Europe are already putting S.H.I.F.T. into practice for the meaningful inclusion of persons with disabilities, their families and carers.
With this webinar on 11th May with COFACE Disability and COFACE members, partners and friends, we aim to unlock the potential of our guide S.H.I.F.T. to:

Trigger the meaningful inclusion of persons with disabilities, their families and their carers, all over Europe.
To launch a European collection of existing S.H.I.F.T. good practices.

Join us to learn more about S.H.I.F.T., hear reactions from key stakeholders, and help promote a whole society approach to inclusion of persons with disabilities, their families and their carers.
The S.H.I.F.T. guide is available here: EN FR PT ES IT
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Working languages: English and French
Closed captions available in English.
Programme
14.00-14.05 Video message by Helena Dalli, EU Commissioner For Equality
14.05-14.15 Welcome – by Chantal Bruno, COFACE Disability Platform Co-Chair
14.15.-14.35 Presentation of S.H.I.F.T by Camille Roux, COFACE Policy and Advocacy Officer
14.35-15.35 Debate based on one key question: How can we drive the S.H.I.F.T towards the meaningful inclusion of persons with disabilities, their families and their carers?

Gerard Quinn, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
Florence Jablonski, NousAussi, France
Robert-Jan Uhl, Policy Analyst, Institutional Cooperation and Networks Unit, Fundamental Rights Agency
Ulrike Neufang, Vice-chair of the EU Social Protection Committee

15.35-16.00 Q&A with audience
16.00-16.15 #BeTheShift: Launch of European collection of good practices. – by Annemie Drieskens, COFACE President
Download programme

Follow our speakers:
https://twitter.com/helenadalli
https://twitter.com/SR_Disability
https://twitter.com/EURightsAgency
https://twitter.com/aussi_nous
https://twitter.com/apfhandicap

Webinar: Unlocking new economic thinking for a sustainable future
2021-04-21 09:00 - 16:30 (Europe/Helsinki) | Online
This conference will be held online for COFACE members and EU stakeholders on building a caring economy which works for families and children, especially important in light of the COVID-19 pandemic during which families acted as the main social safety net. We will start with a reality-check of the new needs of families of today in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, followed by a discussion on the social and environmental sustainability of the current economic system, and try to trigger actions to sustainably reduce social inequalities, building an economy that works for society.
Taking a holistic economic and societal approach, using the Doughnut economics model as a starting point, we will look at three key dimensions of the economy: households, the market, and the State. The discussions and proposals will serve to build key COFACE recommendations for EU and national policy-makers to unlock new thinking for a more social, environmental and economic future.
Register
Register here to receive your individual zoom link.
The working languages will be English (with EN-FR translation for session 3).
Programme
09.00-9.30 Welcome address & Presentation of COFACE-Families Europe’s work in the field of economics
9:30-11:00 Session 1: Households: family associations’ role and perspective in the aftermath of COVID-19
11:30-13:00 Session 2: Market: making the economic environment more sustainable
14:00-15:30 Session 3: State and local administrations: Policy leadership of public administration in reducing inequalities
15:30-16:00 Conclusions and recommendations
16:00-16:30 The world in 2042: an inspirational tale from the future
Download full programme
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https://twitter.com/forfinancewatch
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https://twitter.com/Youth_Forum
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How to build parents’ communication skills with children, so as to prevent and combat bullying behaviours
2021-04-13 09:30 - 11:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Online
Date
Tuesday 13th April 2021, 9.30-11.00 CET
Speaker
By Dr Antonia Torrens – Educational psychologist – Creator of the Live Without Project in Greece and responsible for its management and running
Working language
English
Description
There is extensive literature showing the great influence of parental involvement not only on children’s educational attainment, but also in the modes of behavior that children develop with peers and other persons. In this first webinar which is addressed to professionals working with parents, we are going to discuss how parents can recognize the signs of bullying and ways through which parents respond to bullying so as to help their child face it, or even better prevent it when possible.
The webinar is divided in 5 sections. The first section is about helping professionals understand what exactly is bullying and the importance of not confusing it with teasing and mockery, as well as about the characteristics of a bullying behavior. The second section aims to help parents understand how to react when they realize that their child is involved in incidents of bullying. The third section refers to the significance of parental behaviors so as to raise the self-esteem of their children so as to react against bullying in an appropriate/suggested way. The fourth section is about how parents can better communicate and collaborate better with the school so as to help their child overcome the difficulties they face. The fifth and last section aims to encourage parents of children who exercise bullying on others, not to be afraid to talk to a specialist and receive help, so as to become able in turn to help their child understand the reasons for not doing so.
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More information about the other webinars in the Breakfast Byte series.
Missed it? You can watch the talks of the 2021 Breakfast bytes on our COFACE TV.

Looking beyond COVID-19 – Strengthening the role of Family Support Services
2021-03-30 15:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Online
Launch of OECD study – Looking beyond COVID-19: Strengthening the role of Family Support Services
The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for many families: in addition to health and economic issues, policy measures such as lockdowns, school closures and teleworking from home out considerable stress on families. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted immediate needs such as regarding financial resources or education supports for many vulnerable families who are likely to be most affected by the long-term economic, educational, health, and well-being consequences of the pandemic and Family services can play a key role in helping families cope with this situation. In that sense, the pandemic underscores previously existing challenges for family support services as identified in the new OECD study on Family Support Services across the OECD.
This 2-hour webinar launched a new OECD study on family supports, presenting the overall conclusions of the study, and inviting reactions from different world regions. Participants from across Europe and beyond are invited to tune in and reflect together on how to operationalise the findings to boost the effectiveness of two-generation family support services.
This report is useful for policy-makers, family professionals and researchers from OECD countries and beyond.
The working languages: English&Spanish.
Programme: EN/ES
Programme
15.00-15.10 Welcome by the moderator Monika Queisser, Head of Social Policy, OECD
15.10-15.30 Presentation of the OECD study findingsOlivier Thévenon, OECD
15.30-16.15 ReactionsAndrea Torres, Programme Director, Bernard Van Leer FoundationPetra Mackroth, Director, Ministry for social and family affairs, GermanyDr Alina Turner, Co-President at HelpSeeker, and Fellow at the School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, Canada.
16.15-16.45 Q&A with participants
16.45-17.00 Closing and next stepsCOFACE President, Annemie Drieskens
