Support for Children in Denmark

It helps to talk to others that mom or dad is drinking too much or taking drugs. It shows the experiences from the Children’s Blue House in, among others, Aalborg. However, it’s easier said than done, especially for children. Often they hide it, but this causes harm to them and worst case they are isolating themselves in relation to their surroundings.

There’s a nice story about a father and his daughters who overcame this problem about “not speaking about the problems”. Through a social worker, Thomas heard about the Children’s Blue House in Aalborg, which is a free and anonymous offer for children ages 0-13 years and their families who have or have had abuses close to life.

In summer 2017, his younger daughter and he participated the first time in a group, which enabled them to talk to others in the same situation as themselves. After a while, the girl has become more open and can talk about something she’s sorry about. But the most stunning thing is, that also for Thomas Christensen it was a huge enrichment to go to the Children’s Blue House. He gained better self-esteem and he got some tools he can use to talk better with his daughters in situations where he was struggling before to handle them. The whole family has made a huge progress and everybody feels better.

Thomas is especially happy about this: "I think it's hard to find some offers for men. It's often the men who drink or have a problem. It was therefore also with some skepticism that I started, but I was really pleased to get into the child's Blue House. You can save with others so you do not just sit in your own little cheesecloth and feel alone with the problems. “

Overall it’s a huge help for kids to go there, meet other children with the same problems they are struggling with. They can make new friends and learn to take care of yourself while having fun and enjoyment. But on the other side it’s also very useful for husbands, wives or partners to go there and meet people in the same situation, as the example of Thomas shows.

Facts about the users in the Children’s Blue House Aalborg:

• 77 percent of the children are girls and 23 percent are boys.
• 40 percent have parents with alcohol abuse, 30 percent drug addiction and 30 percent of the parents have both alcohol and substance abuse.
• The vast majority of the children have a father who has an abuse (64 percent). At 16 per cent, the mother has an abuse, while 12 per cent has both a mother and a father with an abuse.
• In addition, a large proportion of the families are also challenged by mental difficulties (40 percent), high level of conflict (43 percent) and serious somatic disease (20 percent).

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to sharing further news in a couple of months.