The event was held on April 28, 2022 in the municipal residence in Ferrara consolidated the decision of the Municipality of Ferrara to join the National Network.
Thanks to the presence of the national Anfn representatives of the network, Filomena Cappiello and Mauro Ledda, who came specifically from Alghero, it was possible to deepen all the steps that could lead to the drafting of a “Municipal Plan for families”. Even the experiences presented online by the Municipalities of Perugia and San Benedetto Val di Sambro (already certified as “Comuni Amici della Famiglia”) made it possible to enter into the details of the next steps.
The goal, already contained in a motion approved unanimously six months ago by the City Council of Ferrara and tenaciously promoted by the National Association of Numerous Families, now seems within reach.
Starting from the many opportunities already available, the aim is to create an integrated system in which the various policies affecting family life (education, mobility, environment, culture, sport, urban planning, social services) are integrated and coordinated according to the principle of “sustainability familiar”. By promoting the well-being of the family, in the different seasons of life, the principle is realized that the family is a resource to be valued and not a problem to be solved.
“The die is cast” said the Anfn coordinators of Ferrara (Patrizio Fergnani and Fabrizia Bovi): “after years of insistence it seems that we are close to the result: we will ensure that the promises become concrete acts. The contribution of Filomena and Mauro was decisive in making people understand what needs to be done and, above all, that the Network is able to provide all the necessary support. “
Here is the text of the introductory speech by Patrizio and Fabrizia: a way to make people understand the importance of an integral vision of family policies:
In difficult moments, of bewilderment, of crisis (which in Latin origin means choice) we like to remember a poem we are very fond of. It is in the book “The internal world of the outside of the inside” by Peter Handke (who in 2019 received the Nobel Prize for literature). It is a somewhat strange text (we will not read it): it is called “Transformations in the course of the day”.
“As long as I’m alone it’s just me, then I go out on the street and become a passer-by, I get on the bus and I’m a passenger, I go to the doctor and I’m a patient …”
Let’s think of the many family stories we know: we get up at dawn and we are alone and everyone is a “me alone” (maybe locked in the bathroom). Then we become awake, psychologists, drivers, service users, customers, social workers, clowns … mother, daughter, son, father, lover, maid, caregiver, caregiver, chef, etc …
Today we are here to understand if we can create a protection network: a country, a city, a municipality, a neighborhood that can help us not to become schizophrenic but accompany and support us because it recognizes that families are a resource and not a problem.
If the family is well, the whole of society is fine: Covid has shown this, confirming that all these roles played at their best make the family the most important social safety net in our society.
The family, like it or not, has a fundamental role in our social model: it realizes it not only when it has small children (increasingly rare …) but in all seasons of life, in the encounter between generations that can live and grow together .
Not just “family = children”, then.
Many belong to the “sandwich generation” caught between the care of minors and the elderly: lost back and forth between diapers and diapers between interviews at school and geriatric clinics.
Even non-parents are children and live this reality experiencing the contrast between the tensions of their “daily competition” and the requests for care to be offered; a high price that especially women pay.
This is why we ask to think about integrity and not about fragmentation, about what allows us to live the transformations peacefully throughout the day and in life.
You don’t need stratospheric inventions or special effects: you need the courage to make choices that make the many proposals livable by coordinating them in an integrated and shared vision.
Nothing extraordinary, common words such as grip, support, listening: sometimes a thought that helps and simplifies instead of complicating would be enough.
We are there, call us, ask us how it goes, let us collaborate …
Let’s try together to overcome the clichés about the family by going to the common places of welcome and promotion.
Today we will hear experiences and proposals to support the centrality of the family.
We are still facing a transformation: in our opinion, it is worthwhile (as for all the others) live it with passion and availability.
Thanks.
