Perspective Ambassadors for Children in Care

Educational opportunities in Germany are still unequally distributed and are mainly determined by family background. At present, around 165,000 children in Germany live in children’s homes, assisted living and foster families as well as 7,500 residential institutions. One third of the young people who grow up in inpatient youth welfare facilities leave them as young adults without a school leaving certificate or vocational training qualification. As a result, they lack a stable basis for successful participation in the labour market and society. They often look into a future without prospects.

The concept of our partner organisation “Klückskinder” in Frankfurt, founded in 2014, comprises various age-appropriate and nationwide services for personal and financial support for young adults in and after inpatient youth welfare. This project shows children and young people prospects for a self-determined life, improves their educational opportunities and thus gives them the chance to participate successfully in society.

The project is aimed at children and adolescents aged 12 to 25 years who grow up in inpatient youth care. The beneficiaries are young people who for various reasons cannot grow up with their biological family of origin. The children and adolescents mostly come from socially and educationally disadvantaged families with and without a migration background and are in part unaccompanied minor refugees. Young adults are expected to be able to live independently at an early age despite their biographical challenges. Many aid measures end at the age of 18, regardless of whether they have completed school or training. The young people have no family contact person for questions that arise in everyday life at this age. Without early and systematic support and encouragement, children and young people rarely have the opportunity to develop their potential, leave school without a degree and in many cases end up on the margins of society.

In a four-part perspective workshop, for example, so-called “perspective ambassadors” impart knowledge and skills so that home and foster children can develop individual future perspectives for a time after leaving inpatient youth welfare. Approximately 10 participants aged 10 to 16 years can take part in the workshop, which is accompanied by a moderator and an educator or a foster parent. The special feature of the offer is that the perspective ambassadors share the same fate as the young people: They have lived in youth welfare themselves and can therefore tell authentically about their own life path and overcoming difficulties. In addition, the project offers services such as the annual “Encouragement Calendar”, in which people who grew up in youth welfare services tell about their successful life, long-term strength-based mentoring or a scholarship programme.

The aim of Klückskinder’s work is to improve the educational qualifications of children and young people who live in (semi-)inpatient youth welfare or in foster families and to prevent drop-outs. Under the motto “Give courage. Open perspectives.Offer Support”, young adults should come into contact with positive role models at various levels, who open up perspectives for them and show them that the future can be shaped despite their fate. The perspective ambassadors motivate the young people with their own path in life and give impulses. In this way, the young people are encouraged to deal with possible life perspectives, set goals for the future and follow their own individual path. Long-term support can thus help the children and young people to develop their potential so that they can take advantage of their educational opportunities and thus lay the foundation for successful participation in society.

However, we still support many other projects in the region.
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