A chance for children
A Chance for Children is a charitable foundation that campaigns against the neglect and abuse of children. The foundation has set itself the goal of making support and advice from family midwives available step by step in all federal states.
Foundation, structure and financing
The foundation was founded in 2000 in Hanover by Adolf Windorfer (retired President of the Lower Saxony State Health Office) and Celia Windorfer. It is headed by a board of trustees . Adolf Windorfer is chairman of the board of trustees. The foundation is financed from foundation income, public funding and raised donations . Since the foundation is recognized as a non-profit organization, donations are deductible.
The patron of the foundation has been the television journalist Gabi Bauer since November 2012. Gabi Bauer succeeds Bettina Wulff , wife of the former Federal President.
Measures to help
The measures taken by the foundation to prevent child neglect and child abuse are preventive and follow an interdisciplinary approach: In order to be able to give help and care as early as possible to mothers-to-be and families in socially and psychologically difficult life situations, the foundation has implemented the system of " outreach help from family midwives ” . Family midwives are specially qualified midwives by the foundation for the entire family . The so-called low-threshold "outreach work" of the family midwives consists of the classic activities as midwives such as childbirth preparation and postpartum care , and above all of supporting and advising mostly young mothers and fathers.
Family midwives not only guide parents in dealing with the newborn baby and help in structuring the daily tasks as a mother, if necessary they also arrange mother-child courses and support families with official visits to deal with the sometimes precarious life situations of the mothers and families to improve. The help of the family midwives can be used up to the child's first year of life. The daily work of family midwives in Lower Saxony is supported by family midwife centers , whose task it is to organize a network at the local level and to involve all institutions and professions responsible for the subject of “child protection”.
The target group of family midwives are pregnant women and young mothers / young families with babies who find themselves in difficult situations (such as addiction problems in the immediate vicinity or even their own addictions, social isolation, depression) and who are overwhelmed with their situation as a mother - regardless of whether they are known or unknown to the youth welfare offices. The foundation's experience shows that the work of midwives, which is taken for granted, creates a relationship of trust that forms an important part of the work of family midwives. Fears of contact, as is often the case with "helping" authorities such as B. youth welfare offices are hardly available.
Projects
After its establishment, the foundation carried out a pilot project in Lower Saxony from 2001-2006 together with the Lower Saxony Ministry for Social Affairs, Women, Family, Health and Integration . Family midwives were deployed in three Lower Saxony municipalities (City of Braunschweig, District of Leer and City of Osnabrück). The project was scientifically accompanied and evaluated by the Institute for Development Planning and Structural Planning GmbH (ies). The results were consistently rated as positive and convincing, so that after the end of the project phase in Lower Saxony, outreach help was included in the regular Lower Saxony help system. Family midwives are currently working in 42 of 60 municipalities in Lower Saxony. In ten municipalities, the foundation is responsible for the aid measure "outreach help from family midwives". In April 2011, the foundation started the campaign “Make strong for the weakest - family midwives in Berlin”. In a total of four Berlin districts (Neukölln, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Mitte and Steglitz-Zehlendorf), three family midwives each will offer help to young mothers and families.
The main focus of the foundation is on “outreach help” for mothers and children through family midwives. In addition, the foundation supports other projects in the context of childcare and infant care in Sudan and conducts the life and sex education teaching unit at special schools and secondary schools in Lower Saxony.
Training as a family midwife
Together with the Lower Saxony Midwives Association, the foundation operates the family midwives training center , which received state recognition from the Lower Saxony State Social Welfare Office in April 2011. After completing 400 hours of advanced training, the graduates will be the first state-recognized family midwives nationwide.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.3 MB) on October 2, 2012
- ^ Institute for Development Planning and Structural Research GmbH / Foundation EINE CHANCE FOR CHILDREN [Hg]: Family support for young mothers - Network for Family Midwives, project report for the years 2002-2004; Hanover; 2005; P. 119f.
- ↑ Ibid.
