Babylotse Quality Mark: District successfully certified
Caption: Delighted to receive the award: Verena Michel, a nurse at the KWF Frankenberg site; Irene Rudersdorf-Wilke, Head of the Delivery Room at the Korbach site; Anne Bülling, Managing Director of the Waldeck-Frankenberg Hospital; Andreas Strake, Head of the District’s Youth Services Department; First Deputy District Administrator Karl-Friedrich Frese; network coordinator Bettina Götz; Gabriele Schalk, Senior Consultant in Gynaecology and Obstetrics at the Frankenberg site; Marion Finger, ‘Babylotsin’ at the Korbach site; Sabine Guaglianone-Hesse, ‘Babylotsin’ at the Frankenberg site, and midwife Christina Noll at the Frankenberg site. (Photo: Waldeck-Frankenberg Hospital)
An important milestone for early intervention services in Waldeck-Frankenberg: following an official inspection in early June, the district has now been awarded the ‘Babylotse Quality Mark’ – a special recognition of the high quality of the services provided. To award the certification, an external auditor and quality consultant from the nationwide quality network Babylotse e.V. spent several hours reviewing the structures, processes and outcomes of the successful programme. The audit took place at the Waldeck-Frankenberg Hospital in Frankenberg.
First Deputy District Administrator and Head of the Youth Department, Karl-Friedrich Frese, is delighted with the certification and emphasises: “The Babylotse programme has become an indispensable source of support for young families.” In the Waldeck-Frankenberg district, it has been established at the maternity hospitals in Korbach and Frankenberg since 2020. With the award of this seal of approval, the district is once again confirming its pioneering role in quality assurance for early intervention services. “Our aim is clear: we want to safeguard this tried-and-tested service in the long term and integrate it firmly into the regional care landscape, so that we can continue to provide families with the best possible support in the future,” says Frese.
As bridge-builders between the healthcare system and child and youth support services, the Babylots play a vital role, in keeping with the motto ‘Identify – Clarify – Connect’. The aim is to identify psychosocial stress in expectant parents at an early stage, provide low-threshold counselling for families and, where necessary, refer them to further support services tailored to their specific needs.
“The site visit for the award of the quality mark was an intense yet rewarding experience for our interdisciplinary team. It gave us the opportunity to reflect on and showcase the dedicated work we have carried out over recent years,” says Bettina Götz, the district’s Early Intervention Co-ordinator. “We are proud of what we have achieved since the programme began. The award of the quality mark is official recognition of the high level of professionalism and the passion that our ‘Babylotsinnen’ put into supporting families every day.”
Background: The ‘Babylotse’ programme
The programme is run by the Youth Services Department on behalf of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district. Two qualified ‘Babylotse’ counsellors work at the Waldeck-Frankenberg Hospital at its Frankenberg and Korbach sites. They offer parents free and voluntary advice immediately after the birth, as well as referral to the early support network. The service, which has been running for over five years, has an impressive track record: In 2025 alone, out of 691 births in the district, potential support needs were systematically identified in 94 per cent of families. This resulted in 171 counselling cases, in which the Babylotsinnen helped families get off to an easier start in life with their child.
The certification audit in June marked the culmination of a long preparatory process. An interdisciplinary team – comprising the ‘Babylotsin’, the senior consultant in gynaecology, a midwife from the gynaecology outpatient clinic, staff from the postnatal ward and the network coordinator from the district’s Youth Services Department — had to demonstrate that the work met the high standards of the quality network. A total of 20 quality criteria were assessed across the areas of structure, process, outcome and benefit. These included, amongst other things, the programme’s concept, collaboration with hospitals and network partners, staff qualifications and the effectiveness of the support provided to families.
Keywords:
Babylotsen A Start in Life Supporting families Youth Support Service