WIESENKNOPF® on-site establishment

On the basis of the Berlin model of familarisation it is important for us to support the children as well as the parents to arrive in a new environment easily. Our flexible concept is therefore a special challenge. Sometimes we take care of children very near-time and just for few hours or days. Furthermore, parents are sometimes in an emergency situation which leads to a quick handing over of the child. This causes a lot of familarisations at the establishments. However, for us it is important that the child has a smooth transition to the new environment and the attachement figure and feels comfortable. We are achieving this through sensible responding to needs of each child. Our carers are trained for the familarisation situations so that even though we have to be flexible we can give the children security and reliabilty in their new setting. We have recurrent rituals that are inherent part of our daily routine and a special staffing conditions (during familarisation 1-2 caretakers and 3-5 children) which enables an individual care and a secure arrival in the group. It is important that a child brings his or her familiar things from home such as the favourite soft toy or a comfort blanket. This facilitates the transition into a foreign surrounding for the child. In addition, on familarisation days we do not offer special activities or large excursions in order to not overstrain the child unnecessary. However, the well-being for all children must be considered during the familarisation time. For the other children (even if not noticeable) the presence of other parents means stress. Therefore, the familarisation has to be modulated with caution with the rest of the group. We recommend that parents are not present more than one hour per familarisation day in the same room since the child therefore establishes a relationship to the actual care situation. Of course, every child and its needs is different which can be experienced exactly through that.

Due to that it is possible that children stay with us for a few hours even on the first day. Above all, it is always possible to have individual agreements with the carer. All in all the familarisation should not be longer than two weeks. During the familarisation the parents play a big part and should strengthen their child to accept the new carer as an attachement figure and as a helper.

A talk previously taken place should help that all uncertainties of the parents are cleared. Furthermore, much information about the day structure the concept of WIESENKNOPF® could be found on our website. We have very good experience with the concept of the familarisation and we please you to give us faith into it.