The first six years of life are the most important. What children learn during this period – how they are treated, what they experience – influences health and future success. In order to guarantee that all children develop properly and start life with equal opportunities, some need support during these crucial early years – for body and mind; in kindergarten and at home.
Parents are the key to successfully providing this support. Families that struggle with poverty find it hard to give their children a good start in life.
The Human Safety Net works with partners across Germany to help parents in difficult or precarious life situations provide the support and experiences their children need during these early years. This is accomplished through creating empowering programs for parents that focus on children’s needs ranging from play to nutrition, from violence prevention to responsive care. Other partners focus on home visits, peer to peer learning. Online and face to face.
These activities help parents strengthen their roles as mothers and fathers. They help parents network with one other, reducing social isolation, creating an environment that helps them build closer ties with their children.
Germany
Active in over twenty locations across Germany and supported by seven national partners
Partners involved
Acker e.V.
Caritas
LERNENDE Region – Netzwerk Köln
MAPP Empowerment gGmbH
SOS Kinderdorf e.V.
Verband Deutscher Naturparke
Wellcome
Acker e.V.
Farming together is a real adventure – for the whole family. That is why the pilot project AckerRackerEltern focuses on the area of early childhood education, with the involvement of parents and through the interlinking with the already successfully running AckerRacker education program. The focus is on the shared experience of the family and the playful discovery of learning content. In the kindergarten, in nature or at home, parents and children discover the world together. In ongoing courses, learning experiences and supplementary online materials, theory and practice are combined and thus ensure a lasting effect. Acker e. V. works at the interface of education, agriculture, environment, and nutrition. The association was founded in 2014 and is now active as a multi-award-winning, non-profit social enterprise in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Caritas
The German Caritas Association is the umbrella organization of the welfare association of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. Caritas offers a wide range of services and activities for all areas of support in Germany. For The Human Safety Net, Caritas is an important partner for the ongoing challenges in Europe and Germany. During the pandemic we supported 21 special Covid19-projects together with the Caritas CSR Competence Center. In the Ukraine crisis, we support some strategic Caritas locations within Germany with projects on psychosocial support for refugee families living in Caritas locations. A new project on financial education of families will start soon.
Lernende Region - Netzwerk Köln e.V.
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Lernende Region Netzwerk Köln was one of the first partners of The Human Safety Net for Families program in Germany in 2018. With its sizeable local network, Lernende Region enables universal access to education in Cologne and offers an expertise in family literacy. These educational programs provide socially disadvantaged families with new opportunities for early learning that can have a positive influence on their children‘s early years while promoting their integration into the wider society. The current project focusses on family literacy in Cologne family centers and involves parents from the neighborhood in a district parents activity. A new project on financial education for Families will start soon.
MAPP Empowerment gGmbH
The MAPP Programme - ELTERN-AG is a community-based training program that empowers underprivileged and isolated parents to form peer groups to help them become more responsible mothers and fathers, create a nurturing family atmosphere and the community environment their children need to succeed in school and life. Relying on a “train-the-trainer” methodology, the program engages local NGOs, allowing them to become part of ELTERN-AG and The Human Safety Net.
SOS Villages Germany
SOS Kinderdorf Deutschland e.V. is The Human Safety Net’s partner for the For Families program in Germany. Dedicated to providing children with a safe home, SOS-Kinderdorf e.V. provides a national network of inpatient and outpatient flexible help, family counseling, educational opportunities and daycare, and is one of the largest support associations in its international parent organization, SOS Children’s Villages. The Human Safety Net for Families supports „Playing at home“ – a home visit based early learning program. The program encourages parents to stimulate children's development and makes them aware of the needs and development of their children. Children learn something new every day with great strides and great joy, especially when playing with their parents. The “Play at Home” offer takes up this idea and supports families with weekly play visits provided by student playing advisors.
© SOS-Kinderdorf e.V._MikaVolkmann
Verband Deutscher Naturparke
The Association of German Nature Parks (VDN) is the umbrella organization for all nature parks in Germany. With its program “Nature Park Kindergartens” VDN focusses on early learning and health prevention. Until today 20 Nature Park Kindergartens all over Germany became part of The Human Safety Net. The parks collaborate with local day care centers in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The educational program is designed to boost motoric and socio-emotional development for young children. Regular visits to the nature park, playful learning in natural environment, learning about plants, vegetables and nutrition, spending time outside the city without air pollution, discover animals and learn about the connection between humans, nature, animals and plants.
Wellcome
Wellcome is a social enterprise in Germany. Under the motto "children only do well when their parents do well" it develops offers for families and encourages parents to embark on the family adventure. As a nationwide social enterprise, wellcome seeks to relieve, advise and network parents with its direct support, so that their children can grow up healthy in a loving environment, regardless of social background. On their online Platform, ElternLeben.de, parents find relevant content regularly redacted from expert pedagogues, free online counseling, links to local organizations and many eBooks and online classes to improve their parenting skills. Together with The Human Safety Net, wellcome aims to increase the reach of ElternLeben.de, measure and maximise its impact, especially on the most vulnerable families. A new project integration online and face to face activities with the wellcome families will start soon.