This text talks about a project which wants to support families all over Europe. Scientists, policy makers and organizations work on the recommendation of good policies for families.

A consortium of 12 different organizations has teamed up to increase the well-being of families across Europe by means of a new Family Platform. The platform aims at combining science, policy experience and the input of civil society.  The outcome of the project will be to influence and direct the EU’s agenda towards policies that improve the well-being of families.

The concern of the well-being of families is closely linked to disability related issues. Supporting healthy family environments for families of people with intellectual disabilities is crucial to give them the strength to cope with additional challenges such as discrimination.

The consortium of policy makers, researchers and civil society organizations together form an association which maintains the platform. The project is funded by the European Commission. Project coordinator, Uwe Uhlendorff, from the Technical University of Dortmund, which is one of the members of the consortium, emphasizes that it is not a research project itself. Instead, the aim of the 18-months project is to build a research agenda for the European Union in order to help policy makers understand future challenges concerning the well-being of families.

The Family Platform will focus on four main areas:

• The study of existing research. This will cover topics such as family structures and how they change, living environments, social care and social services, family and media as well as social inequality.
• Critical review of existing research on how major trends can be interpreted and what new challenges they imply for future policy making.
• Subsequently, policies will be generated. This will be done through workshops together with policy makers, researchers and organizations.
• The last step will be the discussion and evaluation of the research agenda.

According to Kim-Patrick Sabla of the Technical University of Dortmund, the cause of people with intellectual disabilities in the context of family will play a role when reviewing studies on social inequality. It will then also be considered when policies are generated.

The Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE) is one of the representatives of civil society of the consortium. Their own agenda specifically includes people with disabilities and their families. COFACE, for example, addresses the issue of respite care to support carers of dependent persons.

One major goal of the consortium is to get organizations as well as individuals involved. Therefore, the consortium has established an internet platform where everyone can register and thus, influence ongoing developments through personal comments and discussions. The public’s input will eventually decide how much emphasize is given to disability related policies and their improvements.

However, it is not clear yet what will happen with the Family Platform after the duration of these 18 months. According to Kim-Patrick Saba the future of the platform depends on how actively users will embrace its concept. Therefore, it is not even clear yet if the project can persist or not.

To learn more about the Family Platform please click here   

To read more about the disability related activities of COFACE please click here