Pro Juventute

Pro Juventute is an Austrian child and youth welfare organization. Its official website states that child protection has the highest priority at Pro Juventute, supported by a child protection concept setting standards for prevention, intervention and aftercare. The organization traces its origins to the Austrian Kinderdorf association founded by three vocational school teachers, Hans Maislinger, Walter Schubert and Max Walla, who were moved by the plight of war orphans after the Second World War. In 1950 its association goals were expanded, and by 1955 four Pro Juventute houses had been built in Rottenmann. The organization has announced a brand relaunch and the appointment of Mag. Jürgen Temmer as its new managing director.

According to the organization's history page, the founding idea was a home for war orphans. After the Second World War, the three vocational school teachers Hans Maislinger, Walter Schubert and Max Walla were so deeply shaken by the plight of war orphans that they founded the Austrian Kinderdorf association (Österreichische Kinderdorf-Vereinigung). The idea came to them on the way home from French war captivity, when they encountered the Pestalozzi children's village Trogen in Switzerland. Children were to grow up in a family-like group until they could support themselves. In 1950 the association's goals were expanded so that foster children as well as 'difficult to educate, frail and convalescent children' could also be cared for. By 1955 four Pro Juventute houses had been built in Rottenmann. The plan for a large children's village was soon abandoned, because in decentralized large-family houses the children could integrate more easily into the local community. Until the 1990s the foster parents worked on an honorary basis, living with their own children and eight to fourteen foster children. The history page also notes that looking back clearly shows difficult phases as well.

Child and youth welfare organization with child protection as its highest priority.

1. 1Kinder- und Jugendhilfe | Pro Juventuteprojuventute.at
2. 2Geschichte | Pro Juventuteprojuventute.at
3. 3Pro Juventutewikidata.org