The AKAFÖ Family Centre
Support and advice for the whole family
The Family Centre of the Student Welfare Service (AKAFÖ) aims to strengthen the child rearing skills of parents as well as furthering the compatibility of family duties and a career/study. Our employees can provide you with advice, information and help in all phases of life. We have gathered information on existing services in a one-stop shop allowing parents to access them locally via the childcare centre.
The ranges of advice and support for children and families include:
- An overview of counseling therapy services available locally (e.g. educational and parental counseling, special needs, therapeutic pedagogy, immigrant advice centers, women’s refuges, etc.)
- Referrals to the AKAFÖ’s own counseling centers for student parents (e.g. social and special needs, student finance and overseas students)
- Implementation of recognized procedures to diagnose e.g. disturbances of motoric functions, dyslexia at an early stage
- An open consultation hour for educational and family advice which takes place once a month. An individual consultation hour can be arranged in the Family Center on request.
- Organisation of advice on topics not directly concerned with childcare, e.g. general and debt counseling.
The Family Center is a center of family education. We regard ourselves as the partners of parents and provide a wide range of services:
- Up-to-date lists of events involving parent and family education in the region (e.g. family education center courses, evening schools, integration centers, etc.)
- A Parent’s Café, open every day to parents. Tea and coffee are available free of charge.
- Events on educational topics of interest to parents take place regularly in the Family Center.
- Interculturally-oriented events and activities specially conceived to meet the needs of parents with a migration background and to encourage them to participate.
- Furthermore, parents are more than welcome to participate in the planning and implementation of the activities of the Family Center.
The Family Center also helps families who are looking for registered childminders:
- We maintain contacts to local childminders and can put you in touch with them.
- Information material on childminding is available.
- We also have information regarding the qualification of childminders.
One of the main aims of the Family Center is to further the compatibility of family duties and study/career by means of a range of tailor-made services:
- All registered children can have lunch in the nursery if their parents wish.
- We provide care for under-threes in four mixed-age groups.
- We maintain a pool of babysitters and can put you in touch with them
Furthermore, the AKAFÖ Family Center cooperates with local primary schools so that the parents of school-age children can take advantage of the services offered by the Family Center. We also maintain information about other family and child-oriented services in the area (e.g. sport clubs, libraries, culture, parents’ associations, integration initiatives.)
Just ask us: our employees are fully informed about our cooperation partners and their range of services and will be pleased to help you.
The AKAFÖ Family Center
In 1968 students parents established a nursery located opposite the Technical College. Since 1971 it has been run by the AKAFÖ, the Student Welfare Service for Bochum, Gelsenkirchen, Recklinghausen and Bocholt.
The AKAFÖ nursery caters for approximately 90 children from Monday to Fridays between 7.30am and 5.30pm. Three meals are provided daily. 60 children between the ages of four months and six years are cared for in four mixed-age groups. Additionally, thirty places are available for school-age children who do their homework and spend after-school hours there.
Due to its participation in a regional project to promote sustainable support of children and families, the AKAFÖ nursery has earned the right to call itself Family Center. As a Family Center it contributes to increased quality in pre-school education, strengthens parents in their perception of education and child rearing and secures the compatibility of family duties and career/study. The Family Center is a local one-stop shop for the comprehensive support of families.
