Family Guidance

Family counseling services was launched since May 2007 through opening Family Guidance Offices at social centres distributed in all governorates of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Whereas, the team was keen on pushing the wheel to build a solid firmly established awareness base among the community members about the nature of family counseling and services, in order to fully benefit from these services. This is to achieve the highest levels of psychological health, happiness, satisfaction and family stability. In addition, it reduces the percentage of family problems and conflicts, whether they are family, marital, educational, social, or personal, through adopting several approaches to reach the goals that it seeks to achieve, such as the preventive approach, the therapeutic approach and the development approach, whereas family counseling seeks to spread family culture in society through its various programs, from awareness, development and preventive lectures, This is to provide individuals with positive and effective skills that enable them to enjoy stability, happiness and contentment, hence, preserving the building and civilization of the Bahraini family and society. Since 2004, the Ministry of Labour and Social Development has activated the family welfare program for implementing judicial rulings regarding visits by children of divorced and separated children through social centers instead of police stations.

This is based on the vision of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, the wife of His Majesty the beloved King, Chairwoman of the Supreme Council for Women, as well as the belief of her Highness, , in achieving security and psychological stability for the Bahraini family, where he directed the Supreme Council for Women to take this step, in an effort to provide a better climate and for the psychological comfortably of the children of divorced parties. Consequently, Article No. (27) and Article No. (28) of the Child Law No. (37) of 2012 concerning to the implementation of judgments about exercising access rights at centers affiliated to the Ministry of Social Development were activated. Since the family care program in the social centre has a special nature for the category it serves, the Family Guidance Department supervised the implementation of this program.

In order to complement the efforts exerted by the Family Guidance Division and in view of the increased risks associated with providing secret guidance by non-competent authorities about dealing with family problems, the article No. (4) of Law No. 17 of 2015 regarding protection from family violence was activated. It provides that: "Except for family counseling centres and offices established by the Ministry, it is not permissible for any natural or legal person to open a family counseling center unless after obtaining a license from the Ministry in accordance with the conditions and procedures described at the resolution issued by the Minister". Accordingly, the Family Guidance Department has become the section concerned with issuing and following up licenses in accordance with Resolution No. 26 of 2017 regarding the conditions and procedures for licensing family counseling offices.

Family Guidance Offices' Objectives:

1. Providing individual, group, and psychological counseling services to children through Family Guidance Offices.
2. Providing advisory, development and preventive programs by social centers in addition to cooperating and participating with all concerned institutions (schools, social institutions, societies, universities, ministries, governorates, municipal councils and media institutions), through giving lectures and holding seminars and workshops inside and outside the social development Hours.
3. Research and study of family problems (conducting a questionnaire - conducting a case study - analyzing and studying data and the results of studies).
4. Fostering belonging, citizenship and preserving originality stemming from values, customs and traditions of Bahraini society.
5. Seeking to prepare family members to adapt to the nature of life through all available means to get rid of the difficulties and concerns they encounter.
6. Helping family members achieve mutual understanding, eliminate stress and emotion, resolve conflicts among themselves, eliminate anxiety, and achieve convergence, harmony and tolerance.
7. Helping to solve problems facing family members and looking to achieve an integrated family atmosphere.
8. Preparing young people and those about to get married in a manner that can reduce marital problems and build a happy home.
9. Equip parents with positive trends to be followed in upbringing their children.

• Inquiry about Family Guidance Service
• Inquiry about Licensing application service for establishing and operating a family counseling center
• Sijilat Registration Portal

  ---

Definition of Family Care Program:

It is the program, which is concerned with the implementation of the provisions of the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs regarding access right of children the divorced, in case of disagreement between the husband and the wife, as visits occur in the social development centers of the Ministry of Social Development to ensure the implementation of these visits in a safe and comfortable climate for both children and their families.

Beneficiaries of the Program:

• Families that have reached to divorce (mother - father - children - custodians – authorized persons).
• Families that have reached to separation (mother-father-children-custodians- authorized persons).

Enforcement of provisions of visitation and vision (family care program):

The Family Welfare Program of the Family Counseling Department at the Ministry of Social Development is the only program concerned with the implementation of the provisions of visits for divorced or separated families in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Coordination is carried out to implement the provisions of visits received from the enforcement courts of the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs in social centers.

• Regulations and laws of the family care program

• eform for family care program

Services offered by the program:

• Qualifying families to carry out visits by holding a rehabilitation session with the family guidance offices before implementing the visit.
• Executing all visits according to the provisions of implementation received from the Tribunal in which type of visit, its duration, and its days are described in two types:
  1. Implementing visits within social centers for specific hours on specific days.
  2. Implementing visits outside the social centers, as the concerned party takes the children for a visit outside the center for certain hours or overnight on certain days.
• Providing the courts with reports on the regularity of the implementation of family visits.

The provisions of visits or seeing children through social centers are implemented on Thursdays during the hours (4-7) in the evening, and on Fridays and Saturdays during the period The morning period during the hours (9-12) in the morning and the evening period during the hours (4-7) in the evening.

Social development centers where visits are received:

1. Ibn Khaldoon Social Development Center.
2. Riffa Social Development Center.
3. Manama Social Development Center.
4. Jid Haffas Social Development Center.
5. Hamad Town Social Development Center.