The City Council will launch a program to facilitate work-life balance for families with children under 16 years of age.

The initiative will be completed with the development of school reinforcement, artistic, healthy leisure and gender equality activities. This socio-educational service is part of the Corresponsables Plan of the Department of Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality of the Andalusian Regional Government.

The Estepona City Council has opened the administrative procedure for the contracting of the service for the development of conciliation programs for families with minors. Among the measures included in this plan is the opening of a Guard and Custody Service for children and young people between 6 and 16 years old, and the implementation of training and leisure activities.

These actions are included in the agreement between the Department of Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality of the Andalusian Regional Government and the Estepona City Council, within the framework of the 2024/2025 Corresponsables Plan launched to promote the reconciliation of families with children under 16 years of age from an approach of equality between women and men; create quality employment in the care sector; and dignify and certify the professional experience of non-formal care.

The Estepona City Council has opted for the implementation of a socio-educational service that includes the opening of a Guard and Custody Service for minors from 6 to 16 years old, and the development of activities in co-responsibility that include school reinforcement, healthy leisure and inclusive personal development in sports pavilions in Estepona, artistic space, excursions to different points of interest in the municipality, and creation of spaces for dialogue and reflection on gender equality.

The development of this program in Estepona has a total subsidy of 136.158 euros, which is the base bid price set in the contracting procedure, and will be maintained from the signing of the contract until September 15, although it will be possible to extend it.

The contractor must have the corresponding facilities and permits for the implementation of this service, which will have a total of six classrooms: two for children between 6 and 8 years old, one for those between 8 and 10, one for children between 10 and 12, one for children between 12 and 14, and a sixth for those between 14 and 16 years old. Given the wide age range, the classrooms should

have enough play elements to meet the needs of each of the users, also taking into account the age at which they are intended.

Users of the Guardianship and Custody Service will be families with children between 6 and 16 years registered in Estepona and / or at the time of application the father / mother / guardian is working in Estepona.

In parallel to the guardianship and custody service, a program will be developed that will include various training and awareness-raising activities for the participants in terms of co-responsibility that will meet the following requirements: promoting the use of inclusive language, relying on the team of prepared technicians, favoring inclusive language in all communications and activities; promoting female references; education in values; teamwork and cooperativism, aspects that help develop social skills and promote social inclusion; equal participation of boys and girls in all activities; and creating safe and welcoming spaces where mutual respect, empathy and effective communication among all participants, regardless of their gender, are fostered.

Schedules

Regarding the hours of operation, it has been planned that when the service is developed during the school year, according to the official calendar of the Junta de Andalucía, it will be carried out in the afternoon, Monday to Friday from 16.00 to 20.00 hours. In non-teaching periods such as Christmas-Kings, White Week, Easter and summer, the schedule will be in the morning from 9.00 to 14.00 hours.

The Guard and Custody Service will have a coordinator, as well as monitors with training in first aid and equality in each of the classrooms.

The user families of this center will be selected by the City Council itself through the technicians of the Delegation of Social Services, which must make a prior report, allocating the service, as a priority, to care for single-parent families, victims of gender violence and other forms of violence against women, women in long-term unemployment, women over forty-five years, or family units in which there are other burdens related to care.

Likewise, the access assessment processes will take into account the level of income and family burdens that intend to participate in them.