Full Membership

Full Members represent their countries as National Members on the Federal Council and at General Assemblies. Regardless of the size of the country or of the Member, each country has two votes.

Full Members pay a subscription based upon a formula devised by Richard Joubert, the Treasurer, which takes account of the population of the country, its wealth in terms of average earnings and the size of the organisation which is seeking to be a member.

If a Member ceases to pay the subscription, membership lapses.

Where two organisations represent a country, each one has one vote.

Associate Membership

In order to become a Full Member, organisations go through the stage of being Associate Members, while FICE-International considers their application.

Usually, this means that the applicant :

• attends the Federal Council meetings in a non-voting capacity to present its case for membership and meet Members from other countries.
• corresponds with the Executive Committee members about the expected level of fees, the nature of their organisation, its constitution, its membership, its plans and what it hopes to gain from FICE membership.

In particular, Associate Members need to demonstrate that :

- their organisation's aims are consistent with those of FICE
- their constitution permits individuals and organisations involved in services for children who wish to be members of FICE to join them.

The period of Associate Membership usually last one or two years, and during this period no fees are required.

Individual and Organisational Membership

The Federal Council has recently authorised a new policy to permit individuals and organisations to join FICE-International directly if there is no National Member in their country for them to join.

They do not have votes in the General Assembly or Federal Council, but at the discretion of the President, they may attend and take part in FICE-International's activities. Members joining in this way may become involved before deciding how best to establish a National Member organisation in their country.

The annual subscription is 200 Swiss Francs for organisations and 40 Swiss Francs for individuals.

The Benefits of Membership

The benefits of Individual and Organisational Membership of FICE-International are :

• a hard copy of all material circulated to National Members by FICE-International
• access to all Federal Council papers
• access to confidential material on the closed FICE pages of the FICE-International website
• reduced prices for published material for sale
• access to the PEP scheme and other FICE projects
• eligibility to stand for office in FICE-International
• attendance at Federal Council meetings as observers at the President's discretion
• the right to attend General Assemblies
• a reduction in Congress fees.

Individual and Organisational Members do not have the right to vote, either at the Federal Council or at the General Assembly.

The benefits of National Membership of FICE are :

• all the benefits open to Individual and Organisational Members
• the right for representatives to speak and vote at General Assemblies and Federal Council meetings, thus contributing to FICE's policy-making and decision-making
• a lower total subscription to FICE-International than if their members had joined directly as individuals or organisations.

Joining

If you wish to join FICE, you should contact the President's office.

Theo Binnendijk
SaC-Amstelstad
Fred Roeskestraat 73
1076 CV  Amsterdam
Postbus 75450
1070 AL  Amsterdam
Holland

Tel.W. ++31-20-540-0505
Fax W.++31-20-644-0864

Tel. P. ++31-24-641-2246
Fax P. ++31-24-645-2716

Mobile: ++31-6-537-46-312

E-mail: t.binnendijk@sac-amstelstad.nl