Many families were hit hard during the pandemic with lockdown and homeschooling. Important supporting offers such as the voluntary family help of the Munich Child Protection Association were switched off during this time of contact restrictions: “We couldn’t go into the families,” says Martha Arnold, coordinator of the offer. And now, of all times, when it is possible again and the demand for support is high, there is a lack of people who want to volunteer two to four hours a week. Especially for refugees from Ukraine who need help to find their way around.
Many family helpers who had been doing voluntary work for many years would have said goodbye during the pandemic due to age, says Martha Arnold. She herself has been there for eight years and took over the coordination six months ago. After the end of her professional life as a teacher, the 75-year-old found her way into a job as a family helper through a newspaper article. Because it was not possible to recruit and train new colleagues during the pandemic, the child protection association is now all the more urgently looking for young people in order to be able to meet the great demand.
Especially families who are struggling with many problems, practical life support can provide relief in everyday life. For example in families in which a child grows up with disabilities and where there is therefore little time and attention for the siblings. If a family helper takes care of the able-bodied siblings and does something with them once a week, it gives the whole family more breathing space. An advantage of the mission is “that we only go to families who want us,” says Martha Arnold. The mediation usually takes place via social community centres, youth welfare office, kindergartens and also the child protection association itself.
“We have to be very careful,” says Martha Arnold. On average, the helpers look after a family for about two years, because the aim is always to make them independent of help again. This can turn out to be very different: sometimes it is accompanying them to a visit to the authorities, support when looking for an apartment, targeted support for the children and motivating the parents to take advantage of suitable professional help. “But we also go to the school for talks, if that’s what you want.”
Practical problem solving is required
Both women and men are equally eligible for family help, says Martha Arnold. So it could prove very helpful to appoint a man to take care of the son of a single parent. Age doesn’t really matter. People who have just retired often get involved. Martha Arnold figuratively draws the line where older people are no longer able to “chase children on the playground”.
It doesn’t matter whether you have raised children yourself, it is much more important to bring tolerance with you: “We come into families where things are completely different than we think it should be.” The aim of the mission is not to change the family, but to build trust and see “that the child is fine when the parents are fine”. Practical solutions to problems are therefore required, such as establishing contact with the Munich food bank in order to relieve the household budget, which is too tight.
The helpers are prepared for the offer, which is free of charge for the families, with a training course over a weekend. Then they go to the 14-day supervision, where all problems are discussed and the new cases are presented and distributed. Only after a few meetings do they take over the support of a family. “Anyone who is interested in other cultures can do that,” says Martha Arnold, “and in other people.”
And nobody has to fear being overwhelmed, because the task for the family help that has been offered for almost 40 years has changed: “The family helpers used to come in when there was a fire. Today the therapists get us, we are no longer the fire brigade, we try to get through our work to stabilize families.” And that’s why the most important thing is to listen first.
Anyone interested in volunteering as a family helper can contact the child protection agency on 089/55 53 59 or send an email to [email protected]. On October 11, 6 p.m., the child protection association also invites you to an information evening about family help in its rooms at Kapuzinerstrasse 9c.