As with hospices for adults, the basic principles for children’s hospices have been taken from Great Britain. We have adopted and refined the British concept. The world’s first children’s hospice (Helen House in Oxford, England) has been opened in 1982. Since then more than 40 children’s hospices have been set up and connected in Great Britain.
In 1990, some German families whose children suffered from life-shortening conditions founded the “Deutscher Kinderhospizverein e.V.” (German Children’s Hospice Association). This association offers a nationwide ambulant support from diagnosis of the illness onwards.
Coming to terms with a child’s diagnosis of life-shortening conditions, or a family member’s changing state of health, can fundamentally change a family’s life. The family needs support in various ways – either in their own surroundings or in hospices. When the Deutscher Kinderhospizverein e.V. was founded in 1990, the main purpose was to set up a hospice, adopting the concept of children’s hospices in Great Britain.
However, setting up and running a hospice entails economic risks and thus an experienced head is needed. In 1997, the Deutscher Kinderhospizverein e.V. was pleased to obtain the “Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft der Franzsikanerinnen zu Olpe mbh” (Order of Franciscans) as a partner that made the association’s idea of a hospice become reality. The Order of the Franciscans in Olpe, GFO in short, is a charitable provider and an umbrella association for other institutions supporting children and young adults.
In September 1998, the GFO functioned as provider for setting up the first children’s hospice in Germany – Balthasar children’s hospice.
