Press release
Children's rights take centre stage: DGKiM annual conference at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam
Around 320 participants from the fields of education, social work, justice, paediatrics, paediatric and adolescent surgery, child and adolescent psychiatry, gynaecology and forensic medicine will come together at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam from 8 to 9 May 2026 for the 17th annual conference of the German Society for Child Protection in Medicine (DGKiM) to discuss children's rights and child protection.
Noosha Aubel, Lord Mayor of the state capital of Potsdam, welcomed the participants in her welcoming address and explained how children, young people and families in Potsdam can receive important support from a wide range of organisations and services. "We are trying to establish low-threshold help for families in a wide variety of places, for example with the Early Help Network and the Healthy Children Network. We also hope that the child protection outpatient clinic recently opened at the Ernst von Bergmann Clinic will enable us to provide children and young people with the diagnostics they need even better, even earlier and on an interprofessional basis."
Katrin Krumrey, State Commissioner for Children and Young People in Brandenburg: "When we say that medicine owes children 'the best', this means that paediatric medicine is a fundamental right, not an economic good. It is not enough to "provide for" children. A society that takes this guiding principle seriously must ensure that paediatric structures are adequately funded and staffed to meet the specific needs of children - moving away from pure flat-rate case payments towards care that really offers the child the best."
Prof. Dr Eva Schmitt-Rodermund, University President of Applied Sciences Potsdam: "Here at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, we are working intensively on protection concepts, on issues of child participation and on promoting opportunities for development and participation. I am delighted that we as a university of applied sciences are not only hosting the event, but that we are also actively contributing to the programme with contributions from the 'Children in Medicine' seminar. This is a very concrete example of how scientific training, practice and social responsibility can work together."
"During the DGKiM Annual Conference 2026, we will use the three pillars of children's rights - participation, protection and provision - to present our contribution to implementing children's rights and at the same time try to show where there are still major gaps in implementation," explains Dr Petra Degenhardt , MD, Congress Directorat the DGKiM . med. Petra Degenhardt, Congress President of the DGKiM Annual Conference 2026 and Chief Physician of the Clinic for Paediatric and Adolescent Surgery at the Ernst von Bergmann Hospital in Potsdam.
Children's rights are geared towards the special needs of children and adolescents, such as protection from violence in education, their support through education and their right to participation. Children's rights guarantee children basic freedoms and the best conditions for their individual development.
About the German Society for Child Protection in Medicine (DGKiM e.V.)
The German Society for Child Protection in Medicine (DGKiM e.V.) is a specialist medical society that has been committed to the training, further education and training of professionals, as well as scientific teaching and research in the field of medical child protection since 2008.