DUBAI // Care experts yesterday emphasised the detrimental consequences that dysfunctional families often had on children.
Domestic violence and divorce were areas of particular concern, they said.
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Citing an example, Dr Mona Al Bahar, the deputy chief executive of care and community services at the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWC), said the shelter once had a case in which a little girl was consistently aggressive, running around with a knife and tying her hands with rope.
"The young girl was witnessing how her parents were behaving and it affected her psychologically," Dr Al Bahar said.
Dr Al Bahar was speaking at a two-day workshop held by the foundation to train social workers from public schools how to handle problems that pupils may face, both academically and privately.
According to the DFWC annual report, 22 of 122 new in-patients at the foundation last year were domestic violence victims. Half the domestic violence patients were Emiratis, a 20 per cent increase from 2009.
This month alone, the foundation registered about 15 new cases, of which nine were related to domestic violence, Dr Al Bahar said.
However, domestic violence was only one of many areas of concern. Social workers from public schools said one of the biggest challenges they faced was counselling the children of divorced parents.
Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the divorce rate between Emiratis last year stood at nearly 20 per cent; 15 divorce certificates were issued for every 75 marriage contracts.
Mariam Ali Butala Al Shehi, a social worker from the Um Romman girl's school in Sharjah, said that although each pupil handled divorce differently, many girls demonstrated eccentric behaviour.
"For example, in some cases, if the father figure is absent from the house, the daughter assumes the role of a male," Ms Al Shehi said. "By role, not as in the responsibilities, but as in the way they behave."
Ms Al Shehi said it was difficult to confront parents about these kinds of issues, especially when they did not observe the behaviour themselves.
"The girls act differently at home, so the parents refuse to believe that their daughter is behaving this way," Ms Al Shehi said.
However, through training programmes such as yesterday's workshop, Ms Al Shehi said that she hoped to learn techniques that would help her deal with domestic situations.
Meanwhile, Dr Al Bahar said the DFWC had recently been accepting male requests for help.
"We don't close our door to anyone, regardless of age, gender or race," she said. "Men call us telling us they are facing problems with their family, which ultimately means it's affecting their wives and children."
Dr Al Bahar said men were treated as outpatients so as not to disturb the women and children who were at the shelter.
Last month, the DFWC announced plans to conduct a study to discover the extent of domestic abuse and violence against children in the country.
More than 2,000 households across all seven emirates are expected to take part in the survey, which will be part of a larger global study being conducted by the United Nation's International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. The pilot survey will run in September.
mismail@thenational.ae
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Marathon results
Men:
1. Titus Ekiru(KEN) 2:06:13
2. Alphonce Simbu(TAN) 2:07:50
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Khalid Essa (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif (Al Jazira), Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah), Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr), Yousef Jaber (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalifa Al Hammadi (Jazira), Salem Rashid (Jazira), Shaheen Abdelrahman (Sharjah), Faris Juma (Al Wahda), Mohammed Shaker (Al Ain), Mohammed Barghash (Wahda), Abdulaziz Haikal (Shabab Al Ahli), Ahmed Barman (Al Ain), Khamis Esmail (Wahda), Khaled Bawazir (Sharjah), Majed Surour (Sharjah), Abdullah Ramadan (Jazira), Mohammed Al Attas (Jazira), Fabio De Lima (Al Wasl), Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Khalfan Mubarak (Jazira), Habib Fardan (Nasr), Khalil Ibrahim (Wahda), Ali Mabkhout (Jazira), Ali Saleh (Wasl), Caio (Al Ain), Sebastian Tagliabue (Nasr).
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
