In April 2025, the Childhood-Haus concept was included for the first time in a government agreement at the federal level as part of the newly adopted coalition agreement in Germany. This signal represents an important step for child protection and the realization of children’s rights in Germany – and is an expression of political responsibility toward children and young people who have experienced physical or sexualized violence.
We will establish federal funding for Childhood-Haus. This will create regional, interdisciplinary, and outpatient center for children and young people who have experienced physical violence or sexual abuse. The Coalition Agreement, April 2025
For affected children, this means: more protection, more dignity, more guidance in a stressful life situation, and a concrete step toward fulfilling their rights.
– This is a big step for all those who have campaigned for the implementation of the Childhood-Haus concept in Germany in recent years and thus paved the way for the internationally recognized best practice principles of Barnahus and the Children’s Advocacy Centers in Germany, says Dr. Astrid Helling-Bakki, Executive Director at Childhood Germany.
The Childhood-Haus model
s outpatient, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectorial competence centers, the Childhood-Haus model enable coordinated, child-appropriate clarification and care for children and young people in (suspected) cases of sexual abuse and mistreatment. We continuously develop this systemic approach in collaboration with the involved organizations and cooperation partners from youth services, medicine, psychology, police, and justice, as well as the corresponding municipal and state administrations.
When children and young people experience violence and sexual abuse, these are always complex, multi-layered situations that affect all areas of the children’s lives and require coordinated collaboration between different systems and institutions. The Childhood-Haus concept provides an effective foundation for this: it enables these challenging situations to be addressed in a way that is focused on children’s rights, child-appropriate, and interdisciplinary – placing the child’s best interest at the center of all actions.
Inclusion in the Coalition Agreement
We are very pleased to see that the federal government is also taking a decisive step forward with a clear will to act, and that the development and implementation of the Childhood-Haus concept will be placed high on the political agenda in the upcoming legislative period through federal funding. Until now, we have, together with many strong partners and through (partial) funding of Childhood-Häuser by state ministries and support from several municipalities in ten federal states, paved the way toward this anchoring.
Today, eleven Childhood-Häuser are already operating under this principle. Federal funding not only recognizes the concept, but also opens the opportunity for the sustainable structural anchoring of child protection and children’s rights in practice – as an inalienable right of every child.
Goal of Effective Implementation
The Childhood-Haus concept offers a proven, systemic approach to effectively protect children – in a child-appropriate, interdisciplinary manner and based on their rights. In order for this concept to have nationwide impact, a consistently considered implementation of the announced federal funding is now necessary.
Our goal is to use this political signal to promote the development of an even broader and stronger community of responsibility: from the local stakeholders of the Childhood-Häuser to the municipalities where they are located, and up to the state ministries and federal agencies. Together, we want to deploy resources purposefully and efficiently: for a resilient systemic child protection and the consistent implementation of children’s rights.
Our mission is to further develop the full potential of the Childhood-Haus concept for German structures. This requires interlocking priorities:
- Further development and sustainable operation of the existing Childhood-Häuser
– through reliable funding and accompanying professional support. - Establishment and expansion of additional locations
– to provide more children across the country access to child-appropriate, interdisciplinary help. - Structural support for supraregional functions and synergies, in particular through:
- Resources for a coordinating and supporting umbrella structure
- Systematic linking of the steadily growing body of experience from the houses
- Interdisciplinary training of all involved professionals
- Promotion of content-related developments
- Sustainable integration of research and evaluation to ensure quality and impact
The Childhood-Haus model is a continuously learning and evolving framework. It strengthens us in legal proceedings, intervention, and also prevention – driven by practice, accompanied by science, and motivated by the goal of doing justice to affected children.
We will – in close coordination with the Childhood-Häuser, their sponsors, and the supporting state ministries – advocate for making the best possible use of the announced federal funding: in the interest of the rights and protection of children and adolescents throughout Germany.
The first Childhood-Haus opened in Leipzig in 2018. At the moment there are 11 Childhood-Haus established in ten out of Germanys sixteen states. Our goal is that there should be at least one Childhood-Haus in each state.
