A very special welcome awaits newborn babies in the city of Heilbronn. But what is behind the friendly visits of the “baby ambassadors”? We spoke to Sophia Mayer from the family education center Haus der Familie.
In Heilbronn, baby ambassadors deliver a personal welcome to families with newborns. What is the idea behind this?
Sophia Mayer: Heilbronn wants to offer its families a welcoming culture. This includes supporting and empowering them. At Haus der Familie, we have devised a concept for welcome visits that is tailored to our city in terms of services and networks. It is based on the family visitor campaign in Baden-Württemberg. This gave rise to the baby ambassador program, which was created in cooperation with the city of Heilbronn. We organize and coordinate the family visits, train the baby ambassadors and liaise with the early intervention network to help disseminate information and offers. This ensures that parents find out about family services at an early stage and in an easily accessible manner. It’s a preventive approach that aims to help parents give their baby a good start in life.
How exactly does such a visit work?
Mayer: Families receive a written appointment proposal. Unless they cancel the appointment, the baby ambassadors will come to their home on that day. They first present the parents with a welcome gift in the form of a hooded baby towel, along with lots of useful information for families. They then ask the parents, and especially the mothers, how they are doing and whether they need any support. During the conversation, it often emerges that the baby ambassadors can address individual topics or provide targeted information, for example, about open midwife consultation hours. Our five baby ambassadors are open and empathetic people, and they understand if the house or apartment is a bit messy or untidy. They also speak a total of eleven languages, which helps us to break down language barriers. This usually results in a great exchange with the family.
How is the program received by families?
Mayer: Most families look forward to the visits and are very receptive to them. It’s very rare for a baby ambassador to be turned away. In 2023, we commissioned an external evaluation of the welcome visits regarding the parents’ experience and level of satisfaction. 95 percent of the families rated the visit as “helpful”, “good” or “very good”. If parents find out which contact points and services are available to them, the whole family benefits from the visit. If the parents are doing well, the children usually do well too. And that’s exactly what we want to achieve with our program.
Haus der Familie is a non-profit family education center that provides a place for learning, contact, support and advice for the city and district of Heilbronn. Its primary aim is to ensure a good start in life and provide families with valuable support. For example, Haus der Familie offers around 1,000 courses per year, which are attended by 15,000 participants. These range from preparation for childbirth and support in the first years of life to projects promoting work-life balance, such as company holiday care, and services for families in special circumstances. In addition, five baby ambassadors visit around 900 Heilbronn families each year, which represents more than 70 percent of the families with newborns registered annually. Haus der Familie is financed in particular by the Dieter Schwarz Foundation as well as through course fees and project funds.
A third-grade class from Neubergschule Neckarsulm experiences a different way of learning at the experimenta science center. The children leave the "Bakery for the Senses" with much more than just their own baked goods.
read more