Parent-Child Pass: Ministry of Family Promotes Voluntary Parental Counseling

The responsible minister, Claudia Plakolm (ÖVP), emphasized once again at a press conference on Monday the importance of voluntary parental counseling. In family counseling centers supported by the Ministry of Family Affairs, mothers and fathers receive information in 50-minute sessions on topics such as financial support, parental leave options, part-time work for parents, re-entry into the workforce, pension splitting, parenting issues, and conflict resolution.

Voluntary Parental Counseling: Option for Online Counseling Since May

"Because experience shows that offers take some time to be widely accepted by families," the ministry now wants to actively increase awareness. On the websites of the Federal Chancellery (such as familienberatung.gv.at), parental counseling is "comprehensively explained, including contact options for the counseling centers." Information materials are available in the facilities to make parents aware of the voluntary offer during the initial contact.

Overall, the Ministry of Family Affairs finances a good 400 counseling centers throughout Austria. These conducted nearly 500,000 counseling sessions last year. All centers are listed on familienberatung.gv.at, the site was redesigned in 2022 "and has since offered a modern, user-friendly design with an interactive map of Austria and an improved search function," it was stated.

Additionally, there is now the option for online counseling. In May 2025, the pilot operation for video and chat counseling started. "After the very positive feedback from the counseling centers, this new offer is now being promoted more intensively and is to be expanded to around 100 centers by the end of the year," announced the ministry. The department is also actively drawing attention to this and supporting the providers in its implementation.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.