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Prof. Angela Abela was invited to deliver a keynote presentation by The European Society for Family Relations (ESFR) during its 12th Congress entitled Families across Space and Time, which was held in Madeira Portugal between 25 and 27 June. More than 250 delegates coming from 33 countries attended the 12th ESFR Congress. Her keynote highlighted the context in which contemporary European families are embedded and made reference to some recommendations that need to be considered for families to flourish.   

In her presentation, which highlighted current trends in Europe, she argued that the demographic crises, international migration, geopolitical risks and sociopolitical upheavals, as well as climate change and technology, are all impacting European families. Individualism is serving as a backdrop to contemporary European society. The significance of the couple relationship in the 21st century is evolving (Abela 2020). She also highlighted some of the challenges that we are facing, such as the persisting inequality between men and women, and the increase in singledom. Moreover one fifth of dependent children are at risk of poverty and social exclusion (Eurostat 2024).

In her recommendations, she referred to the Eurofamnet 4-year project, where she co-led one of the working groups, and the knowledge and research that was generated on the conceptualisation of family support in Europe (Churchill Devaney & Abela 2024). Their paper on child participation in the context of child protection in five European countries (Abela et al 2024) and the 27 case studies written by national experts in Europe (Abela et al 2021) also formed part of the empirical research that supported her arguments.