The European Commission presented its proposal for an ambitious and dynamic Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), amounting to almost EUR 2 trillion (or 1.26% of the EU’s gross national income on average between 2028 and 2034). It includes funds to help deliver on the European Pillar of Social Rights by investing in people through quality jobs, social inclusion, education, skills, health, housing and social infrastructure.
A new editorial series called 2025 Insights on Family Policies is dedicated to examining contemporary developments in family policy across European contexts. Published by the European Observatory of Family Policy, the Insights series engages with critical debates on the design, implementation, and coordination of policies that support families in diverse and evolving societal landscapes. These deliverables will be published in different issues – The first insights of the series focusing on Italy.
As part of the European Semester, the Joint Employment Report 2025 emphasises that participation in ECEC under three is improving but at a very low pace, calling for renewed efforts in line with the European Child Guarantee, the European Care Strategy and the Council Recommendation on ECEC.
COFACE member, Coram – Family and Childare recently published a study looking at early education entitlements for young children in England, focusing on the challenges some families, especially disadvantaged ones, face in accessing these services.
This position paper adopted end 2024 analyses how the quality of interaction between ECEC services and families can enhance educational outcomes and the overall experience for both children and parents.
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.
Universal Children’s Day on 20th November offers us an inspirational entry point to promote child well-being and build a world fit for children. It is a day of action by children. They are speaking out and imagining a better future. It is important to listen to their ideas and demands. It is also a day for children to ensure their rights and provide a nurturing and safe environment for all from birth on.
Families with young children have complex necessities in the period before the start of compulsory schooling. Often, these needs cannot be reduced to educational, healthcare or caregiving demands alone.This comparative report aims to investigate possible responses to multisectoral needs of households by providing an overview of the current alignment and coordination between complementary services and policy areas in four European countries (Finland, Germany, Italy, and Poland) and the Belgian region of Flanders.
On the 15th of May 2023, International Day of Families, COFACE and itsmember organisations raised awareness on different topics affecting families today.
Media release, 15th May 2023 International Day of Families As governments across the EU are called upon to increase the overall uptake of Early Childhood Education and Care, COFACE members are reporting increasing trade-offs between quality and quantity,...
Fostering early childhood education can boost women’s employment. According to an assessment conducted by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC), providing formal childcare to 40%, 50%, 60% and 65% of children under 3 would lead to remarkable increases in the labour supply of mothers.
COFACE has developed a thematic note to trigger debate and examines a crucial precondition for high-quality ECEC provision: the ratio of children to staff in daycare settings (child-staff ratio). Low child-staff ratios can yield multiple benefits for the children and all the other actors involved.
Join our breakfast byte webinar for the international day of families, to learn about the different benefits of low child-staff ratios for children, families, and staff. Build partnerships with key organizations, and discuss how to make this a reality, as part of the implementation of the European Care Strategy and the European Child Guarantee.
The online exchange for COFACE and COFACE Disability members will especially focus on child-staff ratio in ECEC as a primary driver for child well-being and family engagement.
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.
The first section of the discussion paper focuses on the content of the future Pillar, drawing out the policy principles which in our opinion are most relevant to address the immediate needs of families and challenges related to demographic changes in the last decade. The second section discusses process-related elements of the future Pillar, with a focus on the scope of the Pillar, on ways to make the Pillar relevant at local level, and how to ensure the link with other ongoing EU legislative processes.
