They are not going home yet

Thousands of children in the Netherlands can no longer live at home and are moved from one shelter to another after their placement.

For years, we have been developing the theme and PR campaign for The Week of The Forgotten Child. This week seeks to raise awareness of a new theme each year within the general issue of the thousands of children in the Netherlands growing up in an unsafe home situation. This year, we aimed to put an end to the constant moving of placed children and get it on the political agenda because these vulnerable children need a loving and stable place to properly recover from their traumas. We used a children’s song that nearly everyone in the Netherlands knows ‘We gaan nog niet naar huis’. In English: We’re not going home yet. A song often cheerfully sung by children on their way to a fun outing, knowing that eventually they will return to a warm home.

With the campaign and the petition, the foundation aims to ensure that the issue is made known, and that vulnerable children are truly heard. Together, we are stronger to make sure that policymakers and healthcare professionals prioritize this issue and take concrete actions that lead to real changes.”

— Daphne Schreuders, Head of Campaigns & Events at The Forgotten Child

The Heart House

Every year, the theme campaign is supported by the ongoing outdoor awareness campaign that we developed at the very beginning of our collaboration with The Forgotten Child Foundation and has been driven every year since. It involves the distribution of the Heart House: the unifying factor in the form of one powerful and positive symbol representing a safe, stable, and loving home for every child in the Netherlands. A yellow house with a pink heart inside – made from 72 sticky notes; the little piece of paper that everyone in the world uses to remember something. With the Heart House, we continue to give everyone in the Netherlands something they can easily use to show their support for the foundation and spread the foundation’s message: that every child deserves a loving home.