Shaml Initiative
Shaml Initiative is a national Saudi initiative dedicated to the execution of rulings related to the custody and visitation of the offspring of separated families in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was launched by the Ministry of Justice in 2020 with the aim to foster children's rights, maintain the privacy of families, and provide dedicated spaces for executing these rulings within the framework of an equiped and suitable environment.
Objectives of Shaml Initiative
Shaml Initiative seeks to facilitate the execution of custody rulings in favor of beneficiaries. It aims to enhance the level of cooperation between the Ministry of Justice, the government entities, and the non-profit sector, namely in terms of offering services to society and finding job opportunities in the field of community service.
Shaml Initiative contributes to establishing a safe and secure environment for receiving the child subject to custody. It seeks to offer social and psychological support to children and their parents, protect the rights of children subject to custody rulings, and provide assistance and support to courts in terms of the relevant social aspects.
Shaml Initiative launched the Advisory Services Project to establish the pillars for the centers tasked with executing the rulings related to custody and visitation. It has also set the project's charter, elaborated the field surveying report, the center's operation manual, the procedures engineering process and engineering designs, the expansion and geographic deployment plan, and the change and transition management plan.
Achievements of Shaml Initiative
The statistics published on the website of the Ministry of Justice reveal that, up to September 26, 2021, there were fifty-five childcare centers affiliated with Shaml Initiative. These centers are located in various Saudi provinces. They offered 47,000 sessions, including advisory sessions and mental preparation sessions for fathers, mothers, and children. In fact, these sessions offered by Shaml centers were quite beneficial, where many visitation rulings were then executed at houses rather than Shaml centers.
Within the framework of the initiative, the childcare centers hosted 18,482 child who received care and mental preparation services. Moreover, the centers offered around 237,000 services to more than forty thousand beneficiaries.
Awards of Shaml Initiative
Shaml Initiative was granted the very first National Dialogue Award in 2021, in the Excellence in Dialogue for Government Institutions category, an event that encompassed the participation of fifty-seven entities. The award is based upon the common religious and Arab values that shape the culture and values of the society, thus seeking to promote the values of tolerance, coexistence, and solidarity in line with the aspirations of Saudi Vision 2030.