The Regional Secretary for Social Solidarity revealed on São Miguel that the Government of the Azores has investments amounting to 13 million Euros that cover a universe of almost 800 children and young people on several islands of the archipelago.
 
Andreia Cardoso spoke Wednesday in Lagoa on the sidelines of a visit to the construction works of Água de Pau. She highlighted the "considerable investment that has been made in this area, not only in infrastructures but also in the qualification of services and human resources ".
 
For Andreia Cardoso, this investment "clearly demonstrates that the Government of the Azores is committed to creating the best conditions for the harmonious development of children and young people in the Region."
 
In addition to the concern with the conditions available to users, the Regional Secretary recalled that one of the goals is also to promote conditions for reconciling professional and family lives of Azorean parents.
 
"When we started working, we established as one of our main goals the reform of social support structures in order to adjust them to the needs of today's families," said the Secretary for Social Solidarity.
 
Andreia Cardoso pointed out that "one of the main challenges is to support parents and their young families in the search for the balance between family and working life." The approach has been to "provide families with more help, regardless of their choices, whether they work full-time, part-time or stay home with their children."
 
In this regard, the nanny activities have been recently regulated, which also contributes to the goal of qualifying and diversifying the existing responses in order to meet the needs of children and families.
 
The monthly family allowance for the use of these social responses is calculated according to the available income of the family and reduced in the monthly payments for the second and third children enrolled in these social responses, namely day-care, kindergarten, leisure centres and nannies.
 
Nanny services are an alternative social response to the day-care and are intended to help families in the care of children in a family environment, with the necessary conditions for their full development.
 
Nannies may take care up to four children, from several months old up to the age of three years.
 
"All the investment that the Government of the Azores has made in the Regional Network of Social Infrastructures, namely in the area of childhood, has provided real alternatives to families and we will continue, without a doubt, to do more," said Andreia Cardoso.
 
The work visited by the Regional Secretary involves an investment of about 1.2 million Euros and includes the construction a day-care centre with capacity for 42 children.
 
The future day-care centre, stressed Andreia Cardoso, "will be very important insofar as the village of Água de Pau does not have similar establishments and, in this context, we are creating a relevant social response in the municipality of Lagoa."