Adult home placements in farm families
The “Economic and Public Welfare Society of the Canton of Bern” (Oekonomische und Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft des Kantons Bern, OGG), a 250-year-old organisation, has successfully run the placement and advice centre “Adult Family Placement” (Betreutes Wohnen für Familien, BWF) for the past 12 years. During that period, 150 farming families in the Bern region have already opened their homes to adults affected by mental health issues or mental or physical disabilities, as well as elderly people, on a shorter or longer term basis.
With this form of care, OGG seeks to help socially isolated people build and enjoy interpersonal relationships within a host family – in harmony with nature. Experience has shown that living on a farm has a very positive influence on the guests. OGG regularly invites host families to training days that focus on how the families can successfully live together under one roof.
This socially significant task also represents an additional form of income for farm families. With the Adult Family Placement scheme, OGG has adapted a time-tested form of living to present-day needs: there are more and more lonely, single people in need of support who live in complete social isolation, and on the other hand, farmers are dependent on additional means of making a living. Through the Adult Family Placement scheme, OGG offers an innovative and successful solution to both of these social problems.
For further information, please see: www.ogg.ch/betreuteswohnen