Welcome to the Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic

This is the first Parents in Network Conference.

And this is a network in which I have wanted to become enmeshed since it started.

I hope the same happens with many others, as has been the case with so many until today.

A Network that, in spite of its recent birth, has clocked a growth that leaves us filled with Hope for the future.

And we are all greatly in need of such a future.

We do not want a hidden future for our different citizens.

These Parents had the notion that it was necessary to put a stop to, or begin opposing, the invisibility of their children.

«Eyes that don’t see, hearts that don’t feel», as the saying goes.

These Parents wanted to open our eyes, so that they could reach our heart. And get it to feel, to make it feel.

If we have approximately 800,000 handicapped people in our universe of 10 million citizens, they must not continue invisible.

The have to walk with us on the streets, in the gardens, in the shops, at school, in the university, in the museums, in the theatres. That is, in everybody’s daily life.

When Luísa Beltrão received the Active Woman Prize this year, on 8 March, she defined it precisely as the Prize of visibility.

If the legislation is well found – and everyone believes it so – let us ensure that this kindness happens in the life of those for whom it was created.

It is not easy to be different, and it is not easy to be a parent of a different person. Will it be more difficult in Portugal? I don’t know.

But I do know that it has been a lot more difficult and have ascertained, with my persistent attendance in the field, that quite a long path has been tread in the right direction.

The origin of these advances in the right direction has always had the same point of departure – the network of Love.

And the first love that surrounds these different people is always that of the family.

The families who always become distressed, confused, not knowing where to turn to or what should be done, but that little by little rise from their suffering and, with the strength provided by that love, try to find solutions, and normally find them.

Parents in Network were born, jointly and within a network covering the whole country, to help themselves, calm down anxieties, find ways that allow their children to be fully fledged citizens in a society that cannot, must not, ignore them.

Quite a lot was attained in a short while.

On 24 September of this year I organized a meeting in Belém, with the presence of 23 representatives of Parents in Network.

This was a very special moment for me and for all who took part in this initiative.

Everybody had the occasion to speak out and provide me with details concerning the situation of the nuclei in which they worked.

I thus obtained very detailed information on what is going on and would like to summarize my final idea with a statement from the Porto nucleus – the North is well and commends itself.

I felt that Parents in Network «are well and commend themselves».

The first Parents’ workshop was held in the Spring of 2010, and the trend is for this to be enlarged to the whole country in 2011.

It is unnecessary to point out the relevance that these workshops have for these parents, so often concerned and afraid they are unable to provide the most adequate answers to the problems of their children.

They help us in the training for this paternity that is more difficult than any other (that anyway is not very easy).

Without parents that are trained, active and conscious of their roles the inclusion with which we all dream is not possible.

I have much confidence and much hope in the Parents’ Workshops.

I want to emphasize here with great pleasure the involvement of ISPA (Higher Institute of Applied Psychology) and of the Gulbenkian Foundation that is hosting us today.

Everybody gives what he has and as such, hand in hand, the route becomes easier to tread.

Let us all hope it may be quicker, since we all hanker for practical results.

This First Conference will extend the network to comprise all those that need help and jointly want to search for it and to find it.

Suffering and knowledge that are shared are richer. Suffering becomes smoother when we find out we are not on our own. Knowledge grows when we gather our learning together.

This is also why this First Conference is important.

Some time ago, in one of the speeches addressed by my husband, trying to open the eyes of the people towards the difficulties that were approaching and that some were trying to ignore, he uttered a sentence that became engraved in my memory: “The time is arriving when we are all going to need each other a lot more”.

It is good to know that these Parents in Network understood this message which, after all, is perennial. Because we are always in need of each other and have difficulty in achieving anything by ourselves.

And they put it into practice, against selfishness, against the sickly individualism that we at times find blocking the path that all those present here today want to be united and plural.

Thank you very much! I wish the best results for your work.

I am very proud to have joined you since the very beginning.

I am very proud in being your Godmother.