in the city of Bremen "Early Childhood" steering committee . The committee is part of the State Youth Welfare Office, headed by the Senator for Social Affairs, Youth, Integration and Sport. Leoni Beckmann coordinates all tasks across departments and, together with the steering committee team, develops the "Overall Strategy for Early Childhood".
But what is it all about, and what's in it for families? To learn more about the position, Leoni Beckmann answered our questions:
Ms. Beckmann, could you briefly describe what the new "Early Childhood" control center in Bremen is all about?
"In Bremen, there are already many services to support families with children aged 0 to 7. These include, for example, family visiting programs such as TippTapp, ProKind, e:du and HIPPY. Early intervention programsand healthcare professionals in the neighborhood and at schools support children and their families. It is particularly important for families that these services and their providers are well-connected. And it is crucial that services are well-planned and coordinated. Only in this way can children and families receive the best possible support."
To improve planning and coordination in the future, the "Early Childhood" Steering Committee has been established. This committee is a joint office of the Senator for Children and Education, the Senator for Social Affairs, and the Senator for Health. The Steering Committee develops a comprehensive "Early Childhood" strategy for the city of Bremen, which supports the administration in better aligning services for families and children with the realities of family life
What is special about the control center for Bremen?
“Many municipalities are currently exploring approaches to ‘integrated planning,’ which involves better coordinating and aligning projects from different departments. What’s unique about Bremen is that the staff of the joint steering committee are actually located in three different authorities, yet still function as a cohesive team. This is also unusual for Bremen. The overall ‘Early Childhood’ strategy is being developed in collaboration with children, families, and professionals. The concept for this is currently being developed.”
What changes can the steering committee bring for parents of young children? Can any of these changes be described with examples?
"Children and their families need very different kinds of support. Every child and every family should receive the support they need. This requires appropriate services to be available locally, and local professionals must be aware of these services and provide support in accessing them. These professionals could be, for example, staff from daycare centers or preschools, staff at the pediatrician's office, midwives who make home visits, or people from sports clubs. To achieve this, change begins in the administration.".
In their joint policy paper, the three senators Anja Stahmann (Social Affairs), Sascha Karolin Aulepp (Children) and Claudia Bernhard (Health) state that the child-centered and cross-departmental perspective should become the standard of our work – that means we first have to change in the administration so that the change can then reach families and children.”
What impact would you personally like to see from this new position as a parent?
"As a parent, I would like us as a family to have access to certain services regardless of the district we live in, so that it doesn't matter which district we live in. And that structures are created to ensure a smooth transition from kindergarten to school for all children, regardless of whether a school principal gets along well with a kindergarten director or not."
Thank you very much, Leoni Beckmann, for the interview