Elke Baumann takes care of children in need. For over 30 years she has been a foster mother to homeless babies. Often, the birth mothers are minors, drug addicts, or in prison. Their children find love and security with Baumann until permanent foster parents can be found to give the kids a new home.
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I’ve never received a child that was perfectly healthy kids like that don’t leave their family I hope all three of us will be happy and that she’s healthy you never know what problems she might have there are reasons she doesn’t live with her biological parents
I don’t want to have to send her to some home I want to find a good setup where someday I can close my eyes and say she’s in good hands Thank you As a foster mother in Germany Alka Bowman knocks after babies who’ve been taken into Care by the youth welfare office because the birth parents couldn’t cope or even abuse them Alca Bauman provides them with a temporary home until foster parents are found she’s already looked after 84 babies
Accompanied her for several months as she cared for other people’s babies in their time of need One wish I have is to take care of my 100th baby to have achieved that before I retire in seven years and since I’ve already had 84. that’s only 16 more minutes of course every child that doesn’t have to leave the parental home is a success story
But we know life isn’t always like that there will always be cases so my hope is that I stay healthy long enough for this wish to come true everyone needs a goal the first time we visited Elga and her dog Rocky Emma was living with her
The little girl was only eight weeks old and had been given up for permanent Care by her birth mother there was concern that it might be hard to find new parents because Emma’s birth mother took drugs during her pregnancy and this impacted Emma’s health No sounds you can hear when she drinks because she really struggles to breathe while drinking would Emma’s perhaps long-term health problems make finding a home for her more difficult unlike adopted children foster children usually remain legally connected to their birth parents the birth mothers often retain part of the custody rights
And can seek contact many potential permanent foster parents are put off by this Elka has kept three of the 84 babies over the years she stepped in because no one else wanted them two are Jennifer and Marcus the older one he’s 25 now he came with a drug problem
And 25 years ago no one took in children like that so he stayed on them people Yvonne is a third she has autism and still lives with Elka and her usually short-term Foster babies what’s it like when they leave it’s strange is it sad yeah yes sometimes but another soon arrives right
That’s nice two months after we first met Elka we visited her and Emma again a second baby had moved in in the meantime Norwich I picked her up from a crisis center she was found there right after the birth her mother left her there the baby’s feet are in casts because she
Has two club feet she was born with clubfoot will foster parents taken Nora Emma is just about to be picked up and brought to her new home the separation will be difficult for Elka like a Rosen tretta is there to lend support he hopes her in her work as a short-term Foster mother
It’s not a job it’s just love and Emma leaving now is one of those things she’s found a place in our hearts and so it hurts to let go Emma’s new Foster mother has arrived Sarah munter and her son Noah met Emma six weeks ago they bonded with the baby straight away
And have visited Emma almost every day since giving her a chance to get used to them now she is about to move into her new home exciting I have lots of different feelings I’m happy looking forward and curious about the future so why are you doing this good question lots of reasons
Such as well on the one hand I’m doing it as a job I’m shifting careers I work in child care also with special needs kids so it’s another system different to Foster families and then I get a salary for doing it take advantage for me as a single parent
And for my son is that I can work at home and fulfill my dream of having a second child hopefully offer her a good future bye get home safe I’m here 15 minutes later Emma has moved out after four months with Elka okay time for a deep breath foreign
Four weeks after Emma’s departure it’s time for Nora to move out a couple from Bavaria who already have three foster children with disabilities have come to Berlin Anna Katrin kenor and her wife Manuela want to take in little Nora as their fourth child we’ve already seen lots of cute pictures
And Heard lots about Nora so it’s really not a question at all ELCA is already waiting for Nora’s new Foster mothers but here she’s holding another baby in her arms Leo has been here for 14 days now he was born in hospital the mom had herself voluntarily
Discharged a day later and left him there but it was already clear in advance that the child would be taken into care it is the mother’s fourth child none of them live with her but he didn’t need immediate withdrawal therapy I think it’s because the mother was in
Custody and didn’t have access to so many drugs so maybe that was lucky for him Well Leo just recently arrived Nora is about to leave again this is also about her feet after two months Nora is saying goodbye to her temporary foster mom and then Elko will say bye first because she’s staying behind again the Handover only takes 15 minutes we wish you lots of happiness oh yeah
Right Pub that’s how it is one comes the other goes ah Foreign s later it’s summer and we’re visiting Elka again her own three adult foster children are about to drop by she took in another baby five week old Eula a while ago Leo the little boy affected by his mother’s drugs is also still with her we can’t find anyone we’ve been looking
For eight weeks now in Berlin Brandenburg no one wants him actually the next step now would be a place in a residential group Marcus and Jennifer arrive more than 20 years ago they were Foster babies living with Elka they ended up staying Marcus now works as an I.T expert
Jennifer as an assistant Chef neither of them have any contact with their biological appearance Marcus has never looked for his mother and Jennifer does not want to meet hers yeah for me there’s only my mother I mean not my biological mother for me she is my mother yeah
We know that we had a great privilege and we were also raised to always appreciate what you have here comes did you have a nice lunch haiko Rosen tretter picked up a van from an organization that only employs people with disabilities she is 21 years old now and still lives
At home with her foster mom Jennifer is now a mother herself Marcus isn’t a father yet but would like to be in the future oh it’s a bit messed up I definitely want to have children at best I’ll find a woman who is just as strong and we could
Care for two or three foster children that would be wonderful but for me the time just hasn’t come yet it’s a happy family reunion they reminisce chat and lovingly support each other I always say no child should be seen as a foster child these are kids and they need our help and support Foreign and she still has one wish or rather too yeah yes of course my big goal would be to care for the 100th by the time I retire maybe even do it a year longer depending on my health and to find them the best possible homes yeah
And of course what’s still very close to my heart is Yvonne I’m very worried about that it’s not so easy with her I don’t want to have to send her to some home I want to find a good setup where someday I can close my eyes and say she’s in good hands Finding a new home for Yvonne just like for all the other children so far and Alka Bellman also hopes that Eula and Leo will find new parents things turned out well with all the children we met does not give you confidence yeah yes I always say he can stay a while longer
He still needs some pampering maybe we’ll find someone after all Thank you
Video “Mother in times of need | DW Documentary” was uploaded on 05/04/2023 by DW Documentary Youtube channel.