Parents' Village
A community for new parents to share support
POSTPARTUMPREGNANCYBERLIN
"It takes a village to raise a child", and in the big city of Berlin many parents, often without extended family or a support network ready for babies here, find it difficult to see this sentence in reality.
As a project of my own pregnancy in 2026, I am inviting new and expert parents to join a voluntary community of mutual support. Have you heard of Supermamas? This wonderful organisation is unfortunately no longer active in Berlin. But why can we not create together something similar?
The idea is:
"New" parents in pregnancy or in the first few months after giving birth, can register by writing to parentsvillageberlin@gmail.com; they will then receive a link to a document where they can write a little about themselves and what they are looking for;
"Helping" parents with a baby (or toddler) who is a little older can also register through the same system; they will also have access to the same document and can also write a little about themselves;
"Helping" parents see if they want to reach out to any "new" parents and volunteer for them (maybe they live in the same neighbourhood, or speak the same language, or ...): they get in touch with the new parent(s) and find a time to meet, maybe come over with some homemade food, or just some time to listen and share with the "new" parents;
From the document, both "new" and "helping" parents can see other parents who have registered and connect with them: maybe some families with babies of similar age want to meet up and find ways to connect and support each other; maybe some parents in pregnancy join to support with their time even before they receive help;
There is also a WhatsApp group to facilitate communication, and we'll try and coordinate monthly meet-ups for those who want to meet in this community.
***Please note*** I am starting this volunteer project at a time when I know I cannot be working efficiently in a few months, as I am expecting a baby myself. There is a little team of active parents who are working on this with me, especially during times when I will be offline.
We will test how this goes in 2026-2027, and see whether it can be extended more long-term under the cover of local institutions, such as Familienzentren, or what are other ways to run it sustainably. Realistically, I only have capacity to start this as a test for families living around the Familienzentrum Kiezoase in Schöneberg. If this is not your case, please send an email to parentsvillageberlin@gmail.com and we'll try and see together what else is possible.
