Khaberni - The UAE's budget for the fiscal year 2026 indicates an allocation of 37% of the total budget, which amounts to 92.4 billion dirhams, to the social development and pensions sector, while a report previously issued by the Federal National Council identified 7 challenges facing the protection of the family and its concept and entity, and the Ministry of Family Affairs confirmed that the UAE is witnessing a qualitative transition from scattered family initiatives to an integrated family policy system that considers the family as a comprehensive life path, indicating that the year of the family is not a temporary initiative, but represents a comprehensive national path that places the family at the core of public policies and development directions especially.
In detail, a parliamentary report issued by the Committee on Social Affairs, Labor, Population, and Human Resources at the Federal National Council identified several challenges facing the protection of the family and its concept and entity, which included: media and social communication and their role in the spread of alien ideas, the cost of living and its impact on the formation of the Emirati family, protecting the family and its members from domestic violence, balancing the participation of Emirati mothers in the labor market and their family roles, the effectiveness of family counseling centers in stabilizing the Emirati family, ensuring social protection for widows and their families, in addition to divorce and its implications on family stability.
The Ministry of Family Affairs affirmed its work on dismantling the challenges identified in the report within a comprehensive and collaborative governmental approach, through developing family guidance and counseling services as one of the basic preventive tools to enhance family stability, and to mitigate the escalation of family disputes and their social impacts through working on supporting an integrated approach in dealing with family disputes, that promotes early intervention, improves the quality of guidance, encourages amicable solutions, and reduces the social impact of family conflicts, integrating social and legal pathways to serve the family's interest and maintain its cohesion.
It emphasized that the national agenda for family growth includes a main axis to achieve a balance between work and family tasks, and a number of direct and indirect initiatives related to the cost of living issue that are being worked on within the scope of the Ministry of Family Affairs, pointing out that developing the family protection system is one of its strategic priorities, and that it aligns with federal policies and legislation aimed at protecting the family and enhancing its stability. In this context, the competency of family protection has been elevated to the level of an independent sector within the organizational structure of the ministry.
It indicated that 2025 saw an increase in the percentages of marriage contracts or marriage grant applications, and there is room for coordination and cooperation with the concerned authorities in the government system regarding the updates that occur on the ground, and the aspiration that there will be an increase in the number of marriage grants, as the ministry also pointed to a special axis on family sustainability including the topic of divorce, and the issue was discussed and studied with all partners, in addition to the family protection sector in the ministry managing shelter services to ensure the provision of protection and temporary shelter services according to the need and specificity of each case.
