Who We Are

The Association of Family Support & Welfare Selangor & KL (Family Frontiers) is a registered entity established with the aim of advancing, promoting and strengthening the family unit so that no family is left behind. It acts as an umbrella body for the Foreign Spouses Support Group (FSSG), which supports and advocates for the welfare of Malaysian bi-national families and mobilises action for the Malaysian Campaign for Equal Citizenship.

Family Frontiers aims to advance, promote and strengthen family unity and development so that no family is left behind.

Specifically:

1

To ensure that families have access to economic and social development.

2

To develop information and provide support for Malaysians and their spouses during the establishment of the family unit.

3

To conduct research on matters pertaining to family.

4

To encourage wellbeing, integration and respect for families in Malaysia.

Our Story

Foreign Spouses Support Group (FSSG) was formed in 2009 by two non-citizen mothers, married to Malaysians, who experienced insurmountable difficulties in raising their Malaysian children within the country. They formed FSSG to support other spouses of Malaysians faced with similar challenges, with the aim of advancing, promoting and protecting the welfare of non-citizen spouses married to Malaysians and their children by influencing policy, and providing services through community and network building.

Since 2015, FSSG has expanded its advocacy to include not only foreign spouses but also Malaysians who face the inability to confer their citizenship on their children. Family Frontiers now leads the Malaysian Campaign for Equal Citizenship to achieve law and policy reforms such that Malaysians have equal rights to confer citizenship on their children and spouses, through gender-equal laws, policies and practices.

In July 2020, individuals directly or indirectly impacted by the above issues came together to form the Association of Family Support and Welfare (Family Frontiers) registered under the Registrar of Societies, Malaysia. Family Frontiers’ vision is to realise gender equality and non-discrimination so that the full enjoyment of rights for Malaysian bi-national families in their families, community and society is achieved.

Our Approach

Community outreach and network-building of target community to ensure access to information, peer support and solidarity

This includes daily inquiries, case management, necessary referrals and continuous updates of information on the Foreign Spouses Support Group (FSSG) online helpdesk and service platform that caters to a community of 25,000 followers mostly consisting of Malaysian bi-national families. FSSG also caters directly to 300 members of various individual close-knit support groups that it manages.

Community engagement to represent lived realities in advocacy

Family Frontiers platforms those impacted in all aspects of its advocacy to ensure their lived realities and voices are reflected in its campaigns, advocacy materials, online discussions, webinars, outreach activities and physical meetings.

Capacity building on the advocacy for equal citizenship and access to legal status

Family Frontiers works towards building the capacity of community members to promote self-advocacy and ensure that the autonomy is transferred back to the community. Through its youth collective, Family Frontiers also focuses on efforts to capacitate youth advocates/campaigners/activists to mobilise action for equal citizenship rights.

Family Frontiers works with service centres of Members of Parliament and State Assembly persons, such that there is adequate support and information given to Malaysian bi-national families in the constituency while navigating bureaucratic processes.

Advocacy and awareness-raising through stakeholder, media and parliamentary engagement

Family Frontiers engages with policymakers; human rights bodies, CSOs & coalitions (national, regional and global); Members of the Legal Fraternity; the general public such that there is a continuous discourse on the issue and an increase in stakeholders’ understanding of the need for reform. Family Frontiers also heavily relies on media engagement, and parliamentary engagement by utilising parliamentary mechanisms.

Contribution to national, regional and global advocacy

Family Frontiers is a coalition member of various coalitions nationally, regionally and globally. Family Frontiers also contributes towards interventions to international treaties and communication procedures such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), UN Working Groups and Special Rapporteurs, and Commission on the Status of Women.

List of networks and coalitions that Family Frontiers is a part of:

  • National: Joint Action Group for Gender Equality, Rights to Redress, CSO Platform for Reform, CSO-SDG Alliance, Child Rights Coalition, End Child Detention Network, Labour Law Reform Coalitions
  • Regional: Nationality For All (previously known as The Statelessness Network Asia Pacific)
  • Global: Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights and the COVID-19 Emergency Statelessness Fund (CESF) Consortium.