The Pestalozzi Children and Youth Village offers a home to children whose parents cannot take care of them. It is a place for children and teenagers in social distress. Here, a group of six children live together in a house. They are being looked after by a couple („parents") who share their lives and support the children to recover from their traumatic experiences in a safe family environment. By experiencing reliability and esteem, the children can learn again to form a relationship and allow bonding. The families are at the heart of this welfare service.
The facilities here include a school for educational support and ten training companies. The vocational programme includes a carpenter, tailor, painter, retailer, cook and training schemes in the area of home economics. The bakery as well as the farming, vegetable and fruit productions runs training programmes. They work on the principle of biodynamic agriculture. The job training programmes are joined with vocational schools.
The Pestalozzi Children and Youth Village is a community that offers children a climate for development. Here, the children and teenagers receive individual support and education from kindergarten and school up to training courses in twelve different agricultural or crafts jobs - an education of „head, heart and hand"! The people who work and live here strive to give the children a future. They do this with heartfelt dedication, seeking for growth and development of the children and the village.
Supporter of this special kind of orphanage is the non-profit association Pestalozzi Children and Youth Village Wahlwies e.V.. The Children's Village was the first of its kind in Germany. The association was founded in 1947 in order to create a place for orphans and fugitives after the Second World War. Today the Pestalozzi Children's Village is a modern youth welfare service. The creation of this place for children was supported by many generous donors and still relies on help and charitable donations.
The Pestalozzi Children and Youth Village („Das Pestalozzi Kinder- und Jugenddorf") is located in Stockach-Wahlwies, close to the German border to Switzerland. Nestled in a landscape of hills, streams, vegetable and fruit plantations, the village is a place of peace and security. Besides the posibilities for play and adventure there is an open infrastructure with organic food shop, vegetable production, a farm, a clinic for medical and physical therapy as well as spaces for clubs, cultural initiatives and sports facilities for groups and individuals. In the whole village, many actions for the protection of the environment are implemented.
