News 2022

[5. 10. 2022] On 27 September 2022, COFACE - Families Europe and the AGF jointly organised an expert discussion on the implementation of the EU Child Guarantee / Child Gurantee in various European countries. Government  and civil society representatives from 17 European countries took part. The event focused on the exchange of information on the status of the implementation of the Child Guarantee in the different countries.

[29. 7. 2022] In this issue we cover the Council’s conclusions on the EU strategy on the rights of the child and the European accessibility act entering into force. We also refer to a common statement on the Council’s conclusions by several children’s and human rights organisations. As usual we also update you on family and social policy news from the European countries and recommend interesting publications and events.

[22. 7. 2022] For the Bundesforum Familie (National Forum for Families) AGF is looking for aa project coordinator and free lance support starting in October 2022 in Berlin. It is required to be fluent in German (oral and written). Applications are welcome until 21 August.

[21. 7. 2022] Although great progress has been made in migration research in recent decades, there are still unanswered questions regarding transnational, intergenerational support relationships. The particular difficulties faced by older people in need of care and their relatives in transnational family relationships are rarely discussed in care and family policy contexts. Furthermore, there are deficits in both knowledge and implementation with regard to the needs-based design of welfare state support services for transnational families with (grand)parents in need of help and care.

[1. 7. 2022] On 24 June 2022, the AGF held a conference in Berlin on the federal government’s plans for family policy in the current legislative period. In the first part of the event, the guidelines of the Federal Government’s family policy were presented by the Parliamentary State Secretary, Mrs. Ekin Deligöz. In the second part, two topical initiatives on time policy were commented on by Stefan Reuyß (SowiTra) and Frank Schumann (Bundesverband wir pflegen): the reform of the parental allowance and parental leave and the revision of the two laws on carers leave and family care leave.

[13. 7. 2022] The June issue of EuropaNews was published today. We inform about the current state of the EU Child Guarantee's implementation, activities on occasion of the International Plan of Action on Ageing's 20th anniversary and other family and social policy news. We also recommend interesting publications and events. Unfortunately, EuropaNews is available in German only.

[31. 5. 2022] The AGF accompanies the process of implementing the "European Guarantee for Children" with expert discussions and recommendation papers. The AGF has submitted recommendations on two further topics for the National Action Plan "New Opportunities for Children in Germany", which is currently being drafted.

[31. 5. 2022] EuropaNews' current issue covers the EU strategy for child protection and the commission's proposal for a law against sexual abuse of children. It also refers to Eurochild's statement on child protection during the war in Ukraine and a call by several children's rights organisations for a moratorium on international adoptions from Ukraine.

[4. 5. 2022] The AGF has published a statement on the plans of the Federal Government to implement the so-called EU Work-Life balnace Package. On 4 April 2019, this directive was adopted, which contains new rules for better reconciliation of family life and work. The deadline for the national implementation is 2 August 2022.

[29. 4. 2022] The current issue of AGF EuropaNews for April 2022 has been published. As always, you will find news relevant to family and social policy from the European level and from the Member States of the European Union. In this issue, we report on the agreement to revise the EU VAT Directive and the resolutions of the EU Parliament on the protection of children and women fleeing Ukraine. In addition, EuropaNews contains references to current reports and studies and to interesting events in the coming weeks.

[6. 4. 2022] On 05 April 2022, the European Council adopted a revision of the VAT Directive. This will make it easier in future for national governments to apply the reduced VAT rate, especially on children's clothing and footwear. The family organisations demand that the Federal Government implements these possibilities quickly.
 

[30. 3. 2022] EuropaNews' March issue was published today. We cover the EU commissions's plans for a European Care Strategy and the ministerial conference on the implementation of the EU child guarantee. We also inform about the efforts of children's rights organisations to help children and families fleeing from Ukraine. As usual, we recommend interesting aktuelle publications and events on family and social policy.

[30. 3. 2022] Today, the AGF held two online expert discussions on the "European Child Guarantee". A total of 26 experts from various associations, science and practice took part in the two discussions on the topics of "education / care" and "housing" of the Child Guarantee.

[9. 3. 2022] Last autumn, the AGF discussed the topic of "live-in care", i.e. the support of people in need of care by foreign care workers in the home, in a European expert meeting. The documentation of the event has now been published in German and English.

[28. 2. 2022] The february issue of EuropaNews was published today. We refer to the EU commission's survey on the EU strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities and cover some news on the topics of care and education. As usual we also inform about developments in family and social policy in European countries and recommend publications and events in this field. Unfortunately, EuropaNews are only available in German.

[10. 2. 2022] On February 10 2022, the German Family Organisations together with numerous other organisations, calls on the German Federal Government to take the development of the National Action Plan on the EU Child Guarantee, an overall strategy to combat child poverty in Germany.

[31. 1. 2022] This year's first issue of EuropaNews was published today. We cover inter alia the French EU presidency and its agenda for social policy, the European Court of Justices advocate general's statement on German regulations for child benefits and the European Commission's call for project proposals against child sexual abuse. As usual we also inform about family and social policy developments in European states and recommend interesting publications and events. Unfortunately, EuropaNews are only available in German.

[13. 1. 2022] The AGF has presented recommendations on the topic area "health" of the Child Guarantee. This is the second publication by AGF on the Child Guarantee after it's recommendations on "Nutrition" in December 2021. The recommendations are intended to contribute to the discussion on the planned national action plan for the implementation of the Child Guarantee in Germany.