Babylotse project: For a good start as a family

For many parents, starting a family is an important step that is often associated with joy and hope, but also brings challenges. This is where the City of Offenbach's Early Help Network comes in by providing (expectant) parents with early support in this crucial phase of life through the use of "baby guides". The service is funded by the city of Offenbach and the state of Hesse and is voluntary and free of charge for families.

The new baby guide project was launched at the Sana Clinic in April this year and has also been available at the Ketteler Hospital since the beginning of May. Two specially trained specialists are now on hand at both Offenbach maternity clinics to support all families during pregnancy and around the birth. "They identify and clarify the need for help, provide information about advice centers and, if required, arrange suitable support services with the aim of strengthening the family's overall situation in the long term," explains Hanna Englert, who is responsible for coordinating early help at the Youth Welfare Office. In this way, they act as a guide to finding and using the appropriate early help services and other social security systems from a wide range of regional services.

Mayor Sabine Groß is delighted with the preventative service: "The baby guides represent a key expansion of Offenbach's early help services. Around 2000 children are born here every year. Around the time of birth, an estimated one third of families have a special need for advice and support of varying degrees. It is therefore very important to me that these families receive competent advice from the outset and are stabilized before problems become entrenched. I would therefore like to thank the two maternity clinics for making this cooperation possible.