Call for participants: RAN Families, Communities & Social Care WG meeting – Supporting children growing up in an extremist family context, Prague 21-22 March 2024

Thursday 21 March and Friday 22 March 2024 (lunch-to-lunch meeting). This meeting will take place in Prague (Czech Republic).

For this RAN meeting of the Families, Communities & Social Care Working Group, we are presently looking for P/CVE practitioners working with children growing up in extremist environments, such as social workers, family support practitioners, teachers, youth, or community workers who support children and their families.

Practitioners who can provide concrete examples from daily practice, who are experiencing challenges with this topic, and/or who are working on inspiring approaches are invited to respond to this call for participants.

Background of the meeting

Family members and parents/caregivers play an important role in children’s well-being and development. In 2023, the FC&S working group explored for example how parents/caregivers can positively influence the emotional resilience of their children. By contrast, family members may also have an influence on the beliefs, resilience, and/or behaviours of the children in situations where children are exposed to extremist ideologies in their family context. Children growing up in an extremist family context, for instance, may face indoctrination, extremist social networks or lack of alternative relationships.

Therefore, it is crucial that these children be reached and supported. For practitioners, however, this may pose various challenges. For example, a question may arise as to how to best identify and reach those children and their families, particularly when the family itself is not willing to participate. Another challenge may be that the practitioner cannot always know the full extent of what the child has been exposed to and what the impact of this has been on the child’s life.

Collaborating with other stakeholders (such as schools) is key. This meeting will focus on the latest state of play on how practitioners can support children growing up in extremist contexts while always taking into account the child’s best interest. In short, how can practitioners support these children, and what may be counterproductive?

Meeting objectives

The meeting objectives are to: 1) explore how growing up in an extremist family may impact a child’s well-being,  2) explore ways in which practitioners can reach and support children and their families in these situations, 3) discuss the challenges practitioners encounter in this regard, and 4) exchange knowledge on practical methods, tips, and practices for practitioners. The deliverable will be a conclusion paper with guidance for practitioners on how to effectively reach and support children growing up in extremist environments.

Practitioners and initiatives we are looking for:

• P/CVE practitioners working with children growing up in an extremist context, such as family support practitioners, social workers, youth workers, or teachers.
• Participants who have experience in supporting children growing up in an extremist context.

In order to find the best-suited participants, we would like you to answer the following questions: 

• Are you working with children who are growing up in an extremist family context? Please elaborate further on the type of work you are doing.
• What challenges do you encounter in your efforts to support children growing up in extremist environments, which you would like to exchange on during the meeting?
• What kind of method/practice/tool do you use to support children growing up in extremist environments? Please elaborate.
• Would you like to present a specific challenging (anonymous) case to the group? Please elaborate.

How to register

If you are interested in attending this meeting, please fill out this survey. We will invite participants based on the information provided. Please keep in mind that we only have a limited number of places available for this meeting to foster exchanges, so participation is not guaranteed.

Please note, the meeting will be held in English.   

If you have any further questions, don´t hesitate to contact a [dot] vandermeijradaradvies [dot] nl (Anne van der Meij), m [dot] koningsradaradvies [dot] nl (Mirjam Konings) or f [dot] keijzerradaradvies [dot] nl (Fenna Keijzer).