Petra Peterich

Petra Peterich (* 1944 in Bad Tölz ) is a German social worker .

Career

Peterich completed an apprenticeship as a publishing bookseller. On her second educational path , she made up her Abitur and then studied social pedagogy. Since 1980 she has been working as a social worker in various outpatient youth welfare projects in Uelzen and Lüneburg .

Since 1996, she and her husband have been looking after young people who have committed criminal offenses in their house in Reppenstedt , in order to offer an alternative to pre-trial detention. As part of her offer, she has looked after around 70 young men between the ages of 15 and 20. Four of them live with her at the same time, most of them spend about a year and a half there. The young people are closely involved in family life. They are looked after individually with open discussions, shared meals and regular drug controls. The project is supported by the Albert Schweitzer family company. The relapse rate of the participants is significantly lower.

In addition, she was spokeswoman for the Federal Working Group for Outpatient Measures for many years.

Honors

• 2010: taz Panter Prize
• 2013: Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany

Web links

• Lüneburg native receives Federal Cross of Merit , NDR 1, March 7, 2013
• "I have to let people go" , interview with Petra Peterich, In: taz, September 19, 2010
• A home instead of jail , in: taz
• Petra Peterich discusses with Anne Will on ARD (PDF; 970 kB) , In: Hand in Hand, letter of friend from the Albert Schweitzer Association of Family Works and Children's Villages 1/08