The City Council will facilitate the work-life balance for families through a project aimed at child care

This socio-educational service, which is being developed for the second year in the municipality, includes a space for day care and a program of training and school reinforcement actions.

The Estepona City Council has launched, for the second consecutive year, a free guardianship and custody service for children between 6 and 16 years old whose families have difficulty reconciling their family life and / or work. This program is subsidized by the Department of Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality of the Junta de Andalucía within the ‘Plan Corresponsables’.

The Estepona City Council has opted for the continuation of this socio-educational service that includes a Guard and Custody Service for children from 6 to 16 years, with or without functional diversity and the development of activities in co-responsibility that include school reinforcement, healthy leisure and inclusive personal development in sports pavilions of Estepona, artistic spaces, excursions to different points of interest in the municipality and region, along with the creation of spaces for dialogue and reflection on gender equality.

The aim of this initiative is to support families, especially those in which parents work, providing their children with a safe, educational and quality space outside school hours.

This service will run until September 30, with the possibility of extension. It will operate again at the ECOS Group facilities from Monday to Friday in the afternoon during the school year (16.00 to 20.00 hours) and in the morning during the holiday period (09.00 to 14.00 hours) and will offer a unique combination of homework assistance and recreational extracurricular activities.

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 on co-responsibility that will meet the following requirements: promoting the use of inclusive language, relying on the team of trained technicians, favoring inclusive language in all communications and activities; the promotion of 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.

For the councilor attached to the delegation of Social Services and Social Integration, Maria Aguilar, “this program has been a real success since its launch in previous years, as we have seen how it really helps families who live and work in Estepona, offering children a safe, fun and enriching space, facilitating the reconciliation of family and work life.”

“Last year 86 families in our municipality benefited from this resource during the various stages of its implementation, which meant that about 130 minors were attended,” stressed Aguilar.

The Corresponsables Plan is aimed at families with lack of resources, with the only requirement that they must be registered or working in the town. In addition, there are priority groups such as single-parent families, large families, victims of gender violence, women in long-term unemployment, women over 45 years, people with disabilities and family units with other burdens related to care.

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

Those interested can register for free, until places are filled, in the facilities of the ECOS group in Camelias Street 2B (next to the Local Police Headquarters). For more information call 952 80 51 64 or write to the e-mail estepona@grupoecos.net.