CRC/C/NIC/CO/4 time-bound actions to prevent and respond to such violence and abuse. It also suggests that the State party seek technical cooperation in this respect from the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children, UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other relevant agencies, as well as NGO partners. 5. Family environment and alternative care (arts. 5, 18 (paras. 1-2), 9-11, 19-21, 25, 27 (para. 4) and 39 of the Convention) Family environment 52. The Committee is concerned that the support provided to families with children, especially families in a crisis situation due to poverty, families caring for children with disabilities and single-parent households, remains insufficient and sporadic. In that regard the Committee is also concerned at the insufficient availability of family counselling services and parent education programmes, as well as professional staff trained to identify and address family problems. The Committee welcomes the establishment of Family Courts, but remains concerned that the system is not yet endowed with appropriate knowledge or financial and technical resources, especially in regions outside of Managua. The Committee is concerned that due to the insufficient number of Family Courts and specialized judges, registrars are empowered to initiate procedures and civil judges, who often lack the specific competences, are in charge. 53. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Urgently pass the Family Code in full consultation with civil society, and evaluate and seek support to expand and strengthening the Family Court system throughout the national territory, as appropriate; (b) Strengthen social services providing family counselling and parent education, and train all professionals working with children, including judges and social workers, and ensure continuous and gender sensitive training; (c) Develop and financially support community-based, and family-focused services, and ensure that the Municipal Commissions on Children and Adolescents are at the centre of this activity, in coordination with MIFAN and the Amor Programme; and (d) Provide economic and social-assistance programmes for families most at risk, such as families caring for children with disabilities and single-parent families. Children deprived of a family environment 54. The Committee welcomes the process initiated by the State party in 2007 to reintegrate institutionalized children in their families, but it is concerned that many children are still in institutions. It is also concerned that the Ministry of Family Adolescence and Childhood (MIFAN), which is in charge of the process, lacks adequate technical, financial and human resources to exercise its functions in an optimal manner. 55. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Continue its policy to prevent the placement of children in institutions, reduce the number of children in institutions in a planned and monitored way, and prepare children to leave institutionalized care; 10