KiTa.NRW Kompetenz & Vielfalt

Mastering integration

Die Integration meistern in NRW
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Mastering integration

In addition to the additional childcare services for children from refugee families, the state government is also funding specialist services to support staff in daycare centers. As part of this, the five umbrella organizations of independent welfare services have received additional funding for specialist advice.

Information and working materials for professionals Professionals can find a range of tips for working with refugee children here

Parents brochure informs in thirteen languages

The parents' brochure "Welcome to daycare!" invites immigrant parents to register their children in a daycare center and thus benefit from the educational opportunities in North Rhine-Westphalia at an early age.

The information includes brief descriptions

  • on the work of the daycare facilities,
    • the registration procedure at the daycare center,on the services offered by the daycare center,
  • the role of parents and
  • the reference to the KiTa-Finder

The brochure is available for download as a complete brochure and in the individual languages German, Arabic, Dari, Farsi, English, Pashto, Russian, Sorani, Albanian, Tigrin, Urdu and Ukrainian.

WOMEN WITH THEIR OWN INTEGRATION EXPERIENCE PROVIDE SUPPORT

Since 2016, the Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, together with the Auridis Stiftung gGmbH, has been funding the pilot project "Integrationsbegleiterinnen in Kitas", which is carried out by the AWO Ostwestfalen-Lippe e.V. organization. A state-wide expansion has been planned since 2019.

The aim is to integrate children and families with experience of flight or migration into daycare centers. The integration mentors support children and their parents and act as "mediators".

Pedagogical professionals in daycare centers are supported and relieved by the deployment of integration assistants.
Women with their own integration experience due to flight or migration are qualified as integration guides and are given low-threshold access to the job market.

Since 01.10.2019, the qualification has been possible as a measure for activation and professional integration throughout North Rhine-Westphalia if it is carried out by a certified provider. The qualification measure can be funded by the job centers and employment agencies. Interested municipalities are supported and accompanied by the AWO/OWL transfer office.

Further information is available at:

Film-based information on health care Seven short films on health and healthcare

Who do you turn to when you are ill? Who helps with pregnancy and childbirth? And what can you do to stay healthy? The German Red Cross (DRK) provides information on important questions about health and healthcare in Germany in seven short films.

The films aim to make it easier for immigrants to find out about our healthcare system, medical care and prevention services. The foreign-language information makes an important contribution to equal care for immigrants.The information films can be viewed on the multilingual website www.drk-gesundheitsfilme.de and can also be downloaded free of charge. They are available in German, English, Arabic and Sorani (Kurdish) and provide information on the following topics:
  • Healthcare system
  • Pregnancy and childbirth
  • Protection from infections
  • Mental health
  • Child health
  • Healthy teeth
  • Cancer prevention

Fact sheets on the languages and education systems of some countries of origin Background knowledge for specialists

Families with refugee experience speak different languages and have different educational biographies from different education systems. These fact sheets are intended to provide educational professionals with initial information about possible countries of origin and family languages so that they can provide families with targeted support when they arrive in the German education system.

FAQ - Guidance for educational professionals

Questions and answers about children with refugee experiences

The guide provides answers to frequently asked questions from educational professionals who have questions about children with refugee experiences in their facilities. The guide provides recommendations for dealing with children's behavior, for communicating with parents and for mental hygiene for educational professionals

Further sources of information for professionals Links, contact addresses and further reading

The care of children from refugee families poses further challenges for managers and educational professionals in daycare centers. To support your work with refugee children, we have compiled general and specialist information as well as useful links and publications for you below, which we will continue to add to on an ongoing basis.

  • The state's new website on refugee aid bundles information throughout North Rhine-Westphalia. Press releases, information on the refugee situation and measures taken by the state government are updated on an ongoing basis. You can find an overview of good examples of successful refugee aid on the subpage We help refugees!
  • At www.ich-helfe.nrw, the state has created an online portal to organize the pooling of offers of help and needs for assistance throughout the state. Here you can find organizations, institutions and initiatives in your area that are involved in helping refugees.
    • The German education server provides a wide range of publications and materials on the topic of refugee children in daycare centers on its homepage.
  • The Federal Agency for Civic Education has provided dossiers, newsletters and other publications on the topic on its website www.bpb.de.
  • With "Welcome to Friends", the German Children and Youth Foundation, together with the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, has launched a nationwide initiative with regional service offices - including a service office in Cologne - to help cities and districts welcome young refugees to daycare centers and schools. Further information can be found on the portal www.willkommen-bei-freunden.de.
  • The Unfallkasse Nordrhein-Westfalen has published a brochure on the topic of "Refugee children and young refugees in schools, kindergartens and leisure facilities", which can be ordered here free of charge by daycare facilities.
  • The portal KiTa-aktuell.de offers the special topic Refugees in the daycare center - tips for the successful integration of refugee children in the daycare center with continuously updated specialist articles and practical aids.
  • The Diözesan-Caritasverband für das Erzbistum Köln e.V. offers an orientation guide as PDF and as E-book. The orientation guide for the care of refugee children and their families in Catholic daycare centers and family centers in the Archdiocese of Cologne helps to make sure of the resources already available, to reflect on practice and to take the next steps in a targeted manner. It also provides references to work aids, specialist literature and practical materials, which have been updated and expanded in this 2nd edition.
  • On the website of the Family Center NRW you will find a compilation of numerous training offers from various providers.

The municipal integration centers are institutions of municipalities and districts that are funded by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. They aim to ensure better integration on a local and state level. There are currently 47 locations in NRW. You can find detailed information on the website of the municipal integration centers.

  • Unaccompanied refugee minors need special protection. The guidance of the state on dealing with underage refugees in North Rhine-Westphalia is intended to take this special need for protection appropriately into account.
  • Under this link, the UNHCR provides general information on "Refugee children - Guidelines for their protection and care"
  • With In erster Linie Kinder - Flüchtlingskinder in Deutschland (PDF), UNICEF has published a study that shows the current treatment of refugee minors in Germany.
  • At www.kinderschutz-in-nrw.de you will find information (including a checklist) from the Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues, who is committed to combating sexualized violence in refugee shelters.
  • The bulletin of the German Youth Institute "DJI Impulse" has dedicated its 01/2014 issue to the topic "(Survival) - The problems of young refugees in Germany". You can find a PDF for download here.
  • The following specialist articles on refugee children in child daycare can be found on the website of the nifbe Lower Saxony Institute for Early Childhood Education and Development:
  • The Further training initiative for early childhood educators (Wiff) offers scientifically sound specialist knowledge on multilingualism and cultural diversity for childcare professionals, which can be downloaded free of charge.
  • The Center for Trauma and Conflict Management has published the brochure "Flüchtlingskinder und jugendliche Flüchtlinge - In Schulen, Kindergärten und Freizeiteinrichtungen". The 38-page, practical brochure supports professionals in their work. Detailed information and an order form can be found at www.ztk-koeln.de.

Language mediators and interpreters

Sprint NRW supports public and private institutions in the health, education and social sectors in their work with foreign speakers. Everything about language and integration mediation as well as the range of services can be found at www.sprachundintegrationsmittler.org.

The NRW language mediator pool is a contact point for the health, education and social services sectors for the placement of language and integration mediators in North Rhine-Westphalia. Information on the services on offer can be found here.

Status: 19.08.2020