The so-called "Pëtzenhaus" has recently become a facility of the state's socio-educational centre. The idea is to help minors enter adult life. Seven minors are currently living there, seven girls to be precise. They are being looked after, taken to school in the morning, and receive help with their homework in the afternoon. Their rooms in the historical building in Bourglinster have been completely refurbished. Some of the girls come out of very rough upbringings. They experienced neglect, violence, and sometimes lived in several other structures before. Nobody is being left behind.
The coordinator of the Bourglinster facility, Christiane Feidt, stresses that no matter how big the problems, the employees are doing their best to meet the minors halfway and look after them in a way that their families or other institutions failed to do.
Three youth workers organise activities in the afternoons, and a member of staff always stays overnight. The minors are supposed to feel like they are part of a real family, with the same set of rules. Feidt states that the house in Bourglinster is perfect as a facility.
Youth worker Mia Weydert explains that the house has a big garden where workshops, especially focused on gardening and woodwork, are regularly organised for the girls. She also hopes that residents will welcome the girls just as they would any other new faces.
The socio-educational centre works in three such houses. The other two are in Dreiborn and Schrassig. This last one – Schrassig – always causes confusion, due to there also being a prison.
The director of the state's socio-educational centre, Ralph Schroeder, stresses in this context that neither are they working with young people who were in prison nor are they sentenced to go to prison at a later stage. While they are placed in their care by the juvenile court, this is done on the basis of the law for the protection of the children and the youth, and not to incarcerate the minors.
The goal is of course to reintegrate the girls into society, i.e. showing them how to treat each other and get along. The facility in Bourglinster is a interim step to adulthood.
Video in Luxembourgish
