Hansel and Gretel Foundation
The Hansel and Gretel Foundation is a German foundation based in Karlsruhe . Since 1997 , it has initiated and promoted child protection projects which serve to directly and indirectly protect children from violence and abuse. The impetus for the foundation were prominent cases of child abuse in connection with the Belgian Dutroux affair in 1996. The Hänsel + Gretel Foundation promotes child awareness in Germany, protects children from violence and abuse, helps child victims and their families and ensures more attention for children, so that they are not lost. Since it was founded, over 500 projects have been implemented to improve children's living conditions. The foundation has been audited by the German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI) since 1999 and has had the DZI donation seal since then . The foundation reaches tens of thousands of children every year with its projects and enables numerous schools, kindergartens as well as parents and professionals to better prepare children for the challenges of everyday life and its dangers. The nationwide and professionally recognized foundation projects contribute to the personal development and strengthening of children.
Patronage, Boards and Supporters
The foundation is under the patronage of EU Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger . The board consists of: Ministerialdirigent a. D. Günter Mächtle (Chair), former Minister of Social Affairs D. Barbara Schäfer-Wiegand (Honorary Chairwoman), Thomas Knapp, Gerhard Meier-Röhn and Heike Drechsler . On the advisory board: Annette van Echelpoel, Gerhard Segmiller, Dirk Notheis . On the Board of Trustees: u. a. Jörg M. Fegert , Klaus M. Beier , Adolf Gallwitz , Klaus Schroth , Rosely Schweizer , Sebastian Turner
It is supported by prominent personalities such as the band Glasperlenspiel , Ludwig Trepte , Florian Stetter , Katharina Schüttler , Ross Anthony Catterall , Murat Topal , Axel Schulz , Eva Luise Köhler , Brigitte Zypries , Sophie Schütt , Dorkas Kiefer , Tanja Szewczenko or Ulli Potofski . Angela Merkel , Otto Schily , Peter Hahne , Marlene Marlow , Dieter Hundt , Eva Luise Köhler and many others contributed to the Hansel + Gretel fairy tale reading at the Berlin Reichstag .
Projects
Multiple projects are implemented and disseminated nationwide, often together with partners.
“ Notinsel ”: Protection and help for children in public spaces. With the Notinsel symbol, the Hänsel + Gretel Foundation created the symbol nationwide that offers children safe places of refuge.
“Kulturlotsen”: giving children a sense of self-worth through culture. Together with the Karlsruhe State Theater , children, who otherwise have no contact with the diversity of culture, are given the opportunity to get to know a new world together with a cultural guide. This should strengthen their own personality.
"Child-friendly video hearing room": so that children do not have to make multiple statements. “Mom, it's worse here than in the hospital”. This statement by a sexually abused girl describes the cold and unfriendly atmosphere in many German interrogation rooms that was the reason for this project.
" Don't become a perpetrator ": New ways to prevent sexual abuse. The world's first prevention project supported by the federal government that gives men who have sexual fantasies directed at children the possibility of therapy. The project leader is Klaus M. Beier at the Charité Berlin .
“Child protection system”: prevention of sexual abuse in sports clubs. The use of a team of three (coach, parent and child) should make sport in the club safer. The child protection system project was developed together with AMYNA eV for protection against sexual abuse in sports clubs.
"Really great": making children strong and protecting them from abuse. The primary school exhibition "Real Class!" Is aimed at primary schools and 5th / 6th grade schools. Classes. The children learn and train the most important prevention principles, etc. a. learn to say "NO" in a playful way.
“Real treasures”: violence prevention in day care. Real Treasures enables day-care centers to carry out preventive work at an early stage with the exciting “Strong Things Box” for children. The children learn to guard and protect the greatest treasure of all: themselves.
"Really crazy": where does the fun end? Youth and Sexual Violence. The exhibition is aimed at young people, teachers and professionals as well as parents. It provides information about sexualized violence and its manifestations. It provides information about the right to protection and help, opens up alternative courses of action and ways out of violence, and thus strengthens social skills.
"No child's play": So that children learn to say no . Through child-friendly education and learning counter-strategies, children can assert themselves better against malevolent adults. The prevention play by the Berlin Police in cooperation with Hänsel + Gretel involves older children as actors in order to convey the important prevention principles to young children at eye level.