Adeje’s departments of community welfare and equality, overseen by councillors Mercedes Vargas Delgado and Juan Desiderio Afonso Ruiz, respectively, have organised a series of events, for professionals and families, celebrating International Families Day. The event today is also supported by the Canarian association for family support and intervention. The day’s events are focussing on the many realities facing families following separation and are designed to be a space where people can come together and talk, debate, and discuss the many realities facing families today.
Today’s events were launched by the Adeje councillor for education, María Clavijo Maza and the councillor for equality, Juan Desiderio Afonso Ruiz. Clavijo said, “What we are doing is taking into account all the many kinds of families that we have in the borough, offering a public network for those who may need help, offering information, training, and any other assistance that will benefit, in particular, the children in families affected”.
Afonso Ruiz underlined the work that the council already carries out, attending to the needs of many families, noting the importance too of feedback from those families.
The morning session with Daura Hernández González from the family meeting point, centred on children of a divorce, with interventions from professionals dealing with conflict reduction, domestic violence, and intervention.
There was also discussion of the kind of assistance available for separated families at Cabildo level, as well as conciliation services on offer. There was also some discussion of the way different countries handle mediation between separated couples, which is not obligatory in Spain, although different regions, including the Canary Islands, have programmes in the area of mediation for those couples who seek it.
There was a group session discussing how parents within a breakdown help their children handle the separation, the stress, the changes, etc. It underlined the need her for an assistance service for many families who may need interventions to offset the negative impacts of divorce and separation.
The overall objective of the day is to promote positive parenting and within that deal with a multitude of actualities affecting families, including the prevention of violence and promotion of equality within the family setting. The next stage will see the creation of actions to empower the family unit, increase social and community participation when needed, and create spaces in which all members of a family can participate in seeking solutions to problems, thus creating a positive social network within a family even if there has been parental separation.
Department of Communications
