About a year ago, Lena* contacted us and asked for help in English. Lena comes from a West African country and lives in Huchting as a single mother with three young children. For our initial consultation, Lena arrived with her youngest son, for whom she hadn't yet found a daycare place. From the bag attached to the stroller, Lena pulled out a large stack of letters and sighed: "I'm completely overwhelmed with my letters!"
This is a sentence we hear frequently when advising and supporting families. Many of the families seeking our help have only been living in Germany for a few years. Even though most are looking for work or have jobs, the families we advise rely on social assistance or other financial aid. Many are single parents with several young children who haven't yet found childcare places. This often results in a multitude of small and large challenges related to family and finances piling up all at once.
As we work with families to address these challenges step by step, we repeatedly experience that only small changes in daily life can bring about larger changes in their circumstances. For example, only when childcare for all children is secured, when a phone call can be made independently, or when all the everyday bureaucratic requirements in Germany are understood, can parents even begin to think about taking up employment or vocational training.
"Now I am ready"
Lena experiences something similar during our consultation. Together with Lena, we gain an overview of her situation in the initial appointments. The young single mother expresses several concerns. She lacks a daycare spot for her youngest child, her current apartment is too small and in need of renovation, the constant letters from the job center are complicated, and she also needs to submit an application for child support advance payments.
The many different bureaucratic requirements for securing her livelihood are overwhelming for Lena. In her daily life, juggling chaos with letters and childcare, there's hardly any time left to think about her other wishes: meeting other mothers again, attending a German course, perhaps starting an apprenticeship…
In the coming months, we'll work with Lena step by step to explore how we can address her needs. We'll also be exchanging ideas within the team: Our neighborhood advisor has suggestions for group activities Lena might enjoy and discusses with us whether we could offer the single mother additional support from child and youth services. When Lena becomes increasingly overwhelmed and unable to cope, we bring in our systemic therapist, who has a supportive conversation with her.
Working in tandem with a colleague, we search for language courses with childcare, accompany Lena to registration, discuss incoming letters, make joint phone calls to authorities, and answer further questions. Lena is beginning to better understand the letters and to make her first phone calls on her own.
Through other appointments in the neighborhood, such as kindergarten registration or group activities, Lena becomes increasingly confident in speaking German. During our counseling sessions, we also begin exchanging more and more sentences in German, until one day Lena suddenly and proudly announces: "I've passed my B1 German course. From now on, I'm ready to speak only German!"
"Did I fill everything out correctly?"
Today Lena is in our office filling out an application for child support advance payments. Some fields are quickly completed, then an occasional frown, rummaging through the documents she brought with her, more filling out, then a quick glance at me: "Is that correct?"
I look at the mountain of application papers, offering hints and explanations for some of the particularly complicated questions. Lena is reassured that I sometimes need to think for a moment or look something up, and that I openly admit this. With calm and encouraging words, she continues working her way through the application.
"When my children are at kindergarten, I don't want to sit at home staring at the wall!"
The application is completely filled out. Does Lena even remember how different things were a year ago? She laughs, proud of what she's accomplished today. Now that everyday letters are no longer overwhelming, we can tackle the bigger questions. What's next for her career?
Lena wants to finish her current German course and then perhaps pursue further training as a sales assistant. She's still unsure how to do this, so we discuss the next steps together: scheduling information sessions at further education institutions and speaking with the job center.
Lena is happy that she has goals. "When my children are at kindergarten, I don't want to sit at home staring at the wall!" This is a sentence we've often heard in our project work. Family is often an important motivation, and that's true for Lena as well: "I've experienced a lot. I want my children to have a better life.".
*Name changed
"Strong for Families" (StafF) is a comprehensive support project that assists you and your family in the Hemelingen and Huchting districts, connects you with local counseling, leisure, and educational opportunities, and provides guidance on employment. Our support is provided by a team of counselors from the Inner Mission Association and the Office for Social Services. We work particularly closely with family centers, the job center, and the neighborhood management.
Contact the StafF project coordinator!
The project “Strong for Families” is funded by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the European Social Fund as part of the “Akti(F) program”.
Johanna Boos works as an educational specialist for the Inner Mission and supports parents in the Bremen district of Huchting in the project “Strong for Families” (StafF).