Where can I find a PEKiP course? Who can help after a separation? What holiday programs are available for my school-aged child? How can I find suitable professional development or a working group for my field? For many families in Bremen, the Bremen Family Network is the first point of contact. Professionals are also increasingly utilizing the expertise of this specialist agency. The figures from 2025 impressively demonstrate that the need for guidance and support remains high.
Last year, the staff of the Bremen Family Network personally answered nearly 1,900 inquiries – by phone, email, or digital channels. These inquiries covered a wide range of topics: from parenting questions and the search for childcare or housing to conflicts following a separation, financial worries, or mental health challenges. Particularly noteworthy is that more than half of the inquiries came from professionals working in counseling centers, schools, or social service agencies, seeking support for families. This demonstrates that the Bremen Family Network not only supports parents but also serves as a crucial resource for family education throughout the city of Bremen.
The family portal reaches almost 260,000 people
The digital version of the service is also seeing increasing use. Nearly 260,000 visitors accessed information on familiennetz-bremen.de in 2025. In total, more than 510,000 pages were viewed. The platform now brings together over 6,000 services from more than 1,100 institutions and organizations – from parenting classes and counseling centers to leisure and holiday programs. The family portal is used by parents and guardians at many stages of family life and makes support services throughout Bremen easily accessible.
New website launches in 2026
To make the family portal even easier to use, it underwent a comprehensive overhaul in 2025/26. The relaunch was completed in May 2026, and work on the website and its further development continues. The changes include a more modern design, significantly improved navigation, and enhanced accessibility. New features such as multilingual content, an AI chatbot, and, with the new specialist portal, a dedicated area for professionals, are intended to further facilitate access to information.
Strengthening families together
Families need strong networks – including behind the scenes. That's why the Bremen Family Network, in close cooperation with Department 21 (Senator for Labor, Social Affairs, Youth and Integration), organizes the city-wide Family Education Network twice a year. This network brings together professionals from social services, education, health, counseling, and government agencies to discuss current challenges and develop new collaborations. In 2025, the focus was on collaboration between family education and healthcare, as well as new networking strategies. On average, around 50 professionals participated in the meetings.
Outlook for the future
The Bremen Family Network is much more than a family portal. As a contact, coordination, and specialist center, it maintains close communication with families, professionals, service providers, the administration, and policymakers. These diverse perspectives create a comprehensive picture of the issues that matter to families in Bremen – and where support, new services, or improved networking are needed. Because effective support for families arises where knowledge is shared, services are networked, and collaborative solutions are developed.
These findings are directly incorporated into the further development of the family portal, counseling services, and family education programs. The goal remains to reliably support families in every phase of life, to make support services visible, and, together with the many stakeholders in Bremen, to ensure that help reaches those who need it.
You can read the full progress report for 2025 here: Progress Report 2025
