What is Familia?
Familia ry – founded in 1988 – is a national expert organisation of intercultural families. We support the wellbeing of intercultural families by offering peer support and volunteer activities, information, and advice. We also aim at making improvements in the social and legal systems, so that the needs of intercultural and multilingual families and Finns would be better met.
Intercultural families as a term, refers to families in which family members have different cultural backgrounds. This usually means, that the partners were born and raised in different countries and speak different native languages. A child or children raised by a parent (s) with different cultural background (s), are also considered part of an intercultural family. |
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News
We are looking for a graphic designer
10.7.24 Familia is a national expert organization of intercultural families. We received funding from the Alli Paasikivi foundation to renew the "Love and parenting in an intercultural family"- guidebook and to make family relationship- cards as well. We are ready to pay for the task. The guide and the cards are intended for intercultural families that are planning a child, expecting a baby or have small children. They are suitable for thinking about parenthood, but also for taking care of a relationship and are both made in Finnish and English. The guide will cover approximately 60-70 pages (A5) of material. The work should be done by the end of 11/2024 and we hope to find the author by 21.8. Since we want the work to represent diversity and intercultural families, it would be good if multiculturalism and the diversity of families were important topics for the author too. Any questions and/or application and portfolio/work sample can be sent to: [email protected]. Remember to include your offer for the work of the guide and the cards. Answer our survey about views on dual and multiple citizenship and its meaning!
08.7.24 We invite anyone who has, eligible for or is thinking of dual or multiple citizenship. We also invite parents of children who have or can get dual or multiple citizenship to participate in a survey. Your answers are valuable to us and help us understand the impact of dual and multiple citizenship from different perspectives. Familia works to promote understanding of dual and multiple citizenship issues and to improve the position of intercultural families and individuals in society. The survey is anonymous and available in Finnish and English. It takes about 10-15 minutes to complete the survey. After the survey, you can participate in a prize draw via a separate link. We will draw 2 copies of the Mixed book, 2 Familia's Kokonainen Minä children's books and 2 umbrellas. Familia ry: Additional time is needed for deciding on new pupil admission criteria - the child's linguistic and cultural rights have not been taken into account in the proposal
18.6.24 Familia demands that the city of Helsinki take additional time to decide on the new criteria for pupil admission. Helsinki has proposed the removal of the entrance exams for bilingual education in Finnish-language primary schools when applying for the first grade. In the future, anyone could enter bilingual education through a lottery. The change was supposed to come into effect in 2025. The matter is being decided today, Tuesday, in the Finnish-language section of the Board of Education and Training of the City of Helsinki. The proposal to remove entrance exams has raised concerns among parents of multilingual children, especially in the families of children coming to Käpylä school's bilingual Finnish-Spanish education. The decision has been pushed through without proper consultation of experts or parents. The decision is justified on pedagogical grounds, but these grounds do not consider the linguistic and cultural rights of multilingual children. Read the full statement here (in Finnish) Joint statement: peace brings security to minorities - the rights of minorities are threatened in conflicts
14.6.24 We are always, strongly and unyieldingly on the side of peace - and we invite everyone to join this work. The task of non-governmental organizations is to create and maintain hope even when the message of the surrounding world does not build understanding and peace, or when talking about human rights is unpopular. That's why we, together with 21 non-governmental organizations, take a stand on behalf of all those who are in a particularly vulnerable position right now and who are subjected to special violent actions. Everyone has indivisible human dignity, which we strongly defend! Read the full statement here (in Finnish) Familia's statement on the draft of the Government's action program on combating racism and promoting equality
10.6.24 As a general comment, we would like to point out that the action program contains a lot of high-level issues, but the actual concreteness and sufficient resources to promote things are few. The six million euros earmarked for the action program is a small amount of money, considering the cuts in government grants to organizations at the same time. The program does not reveal in more detail how the amount reserved for this will be distributed, other than in terms of promoting the security of Jewish congregations (400,000 euros/year). In addition, the objectives of the action program are in conflict with immigration and the tightening of citizenship, which have a great impact on cross-border families who have immigrated to the country and live here. Read the statement in its entirety here (only in Finnish) |
Familia belongs to the Diverse-Family network. The network consists of ten different family associations representing a variety of different types of families. The aim of the Diverse Families Network is a society where families are equal, and every family can be proud of itself.
JOIN US!
As a member of Familia, you are a valuable part of our community that promotes the well-being and equality of intercultural families in Finland. As a member, your voice and that of your family can be heard in the planning of services and in decision-making related to multiculturalism, multilingualism, immigration and integration, for example. As our member, you can also participate in Familia's regular meetings and thus, develop our activities. |
activities
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