On Thursday, Queen Silvia of Sweden took part in the digital inauguration of Children-Haus in Ortenau, Germany.
The facility is an orphanage to house children suspected of having been victims of physical violence or sexual abuse.
This is the fifth building of this kind to be inaugurated with the aim of preventing the multiplication of traumas for children that come from being moved from family to family.
All authorities involved in this project have worked hard to adapt the structures to children’s needs; for instance, all the staff working in the facility are specially trained to deal with vulnerable children.
Each orphanage is staffed by forensic doctors, police, and prosecutors to investigate the violence each child experienced, psychiatrists and medical personnel for the children’s recovery process and social services.
During the ceremony, Queen Silvia delivered a speech in which she praised the project for working under the main orphanage principle: that, no matter the outcome of a procedure, each child has to get out of it stronger than when the process started.
Her Majesty also expressed her regret for not being able to be present in person and for not being in a position to experience first-hand what structures like this one mean to vulnerable children.
The one in Ortenau is the fifth structure of this kind to open in Germany, with the first four having been opened in Leipzig, Heidelberg, Berlin and Dusseldorf.
All of these structures have been opened with contributions from the World Childhood Foundation, an organisation which Queen Silvia founded in 1999; since 2006, Princess Madeleine has been on Childhood Sweden and Childhood USA’s boards.
It is significant that Queen Silvia chose to support and highlight this particular project, not only because of her strong ties with the World Childhood Foundation but also because Germany, where this project has taken shape, is her home country, having been born in Heidelberg.
