Strengthened Support Network for Youngest Residents in Bergisch Gladbach from the Onset
The Early Support Services (Frühe Hilfen) in Bergisch Gladbach are local programs aimed at providing assistance to families with young children, particularly during pregnancy and the first years of a child's life. These services strive to prevent problems and offer appropriate support during sensitive life phases.
At the heart of these efforts are two dedicated professionals: Irene Rüttenauer and Martina Maurer.
Irene Rüttenauer, the Network Coordinator, oversees a network of around 50 cooperation partners in Bergisch Gladbach. This network includes family education centers, health departments, counseling centers, pregnancy counseling centers, midwives, and the municipal integration center. Her role involves ensuring offers are bundled and made known, and she is actively involved in initiatives such as twice-yearly network meetings, breastfeeding and diaper-changing facility campaigns, and a single parents' café at the daycare center on Bensberger Street.
Martina Maurer, on the other hand, works as a Baby Coach. Her role focuses on providing direct guidance and support to parents and caregivers regarding baby care, development, and well-being. She assists families in understanding their baby's needs and behaviors, promoting healthy parent-infant relationships, and offering practical advice on everyday challenges in early childhood.
Martina's approach is empathetic, low-threshold, and solution-oriented. Her workday can end as late as 8 pm due to high demand. She mediates to counseling centers, organizes household help, answers questions about daycare selection, and guides families in need to the right offers. She finds contributing to young parents feeling supported and accompanied to be the most beautiful thing.
The importance of the Early Support Services is growing within and outside the administration. The topic is significant as it is not a given that it is funded. Martina Maurer is particularly proud of the preventive approach, citing an example of early recognition and support for postpartum depression potentially preventing long-term problems.
All information and offers of the Early Help services can be found on the municipal website and the family information portal, including contact addresses for advice and support.
In moments like network meetings and receiving handmade pictures from the children in the single parents' café, Irene Rüttenauer feels the success of her work. She clarifies needs, offers support for questions about parental allowance applications, finding a midwife for aftercare, psychosocial problems, handling the child, and more.
Together, they contribute to a coordinated, multi-professional support system in Bergisch Gladbach that helps families navigate the early stages of parenthood and child development to foster healthy growth and family wellbeing.
- The Early Support Services in Bergisch Gladbach, aiming to support family health and wellness, consist of a network of around 50 partners encompassing family education centers, health departments, and counseling centers, among others, coordinated by Irene Rüttenauer.
- Martina Maurer, functioning as a Baby Coach within the Early Support Services, offers direct guidance and mental health support to parents, focusing on baby care, development, and promoting healthy parent-infant relationships.
- Lifestyle initiatives such as the breastfeeding and diaper-changing facility campaigns, a single parents' cafe, and household help organized by Martina Maurer are part of the Early Support Services that focus on home-and-garden issues as well as parenting.
- The preventive approach of the Early Support Services, emphasized by Martina Maurer, is significant as it addresses mental health issues like postpartum depression early, potentially preventing long-term problems and supporting family health and wellness in Bergisch Gladbach.
