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When one's own parents become weak, many people are like paralyzed. Very few know who to turn to," explains Christiane Wissing (38) from the Eldercare Team of the Family Service famPLUS. The trained pediatric nurse, like her colleague Anne-Kathrin Schulz (32), is also a qualified nursing educator, and both have been helping families out of trouble for over two years when their parents can no longer manage on their own.

I never dared to hope that famPLUS would help me so quickly and also find such great care for Fabian!" Carola Schmidt is delighted. The 38-year-old mother was worried about not finding a suitable daycare for her son after her parental leave. "It also had to be feasible in terms of travel time and somewhat financially reasonable," adds the business economist and mother of two. But even after the half-hour initial consultation with the experienced customer advisors at famPlus, Carola Schmidt was quite optimistic: "They listened well, asked questions, and gave me the feeling that they were handling it competently. It was great.

Where to put the child if a last-minute important training session is scheduled, overtime is needed, or a change in the work schedule disrupts the parents' logistics? Since June 1, 2014, employees of the University Hospital Regensburg have had the good fortune to participate in a pilot project aimed at promoting the compatibility of family and work: For the duration of one year, the employer actively supports them and sends qualified childcare to their home during bottlenecks.

When 28-year-old Paul Weber* became a father in December 2012, he noticed that his previous employer no longer suited him as a young family man. "I switched relatively quickly because it was no longer working for me," says the account manager. Weber specifically applied to the personnel service provider emagine in Munich, known as a family-friendly company, where he has been working since April 1.

When the white phone rings at Elisabeth Müller's home in Mönchengladbach, it is usually a father or mother with more than three children calling; because Elisabeth Müller is the chairperson of the Association of Large Families in Germany (KRFD); and in this country, a family is considered large from the third child onwards.

There is no better way to learn a foreign language—if you don't have the opportunity to spend an extended period in the foreign country. The new language tutoring program in collaboration with famPLUS is a great thing, especially for students or professionals:

Angela Schmidt from Hamburg, herself a mother of a 4-year-old daughter, provides emergency childcare with the Emergency Moms who are trained, child-friendly, and available within 2 hours for parents.

I called on Friday and explained that I have a childcare issue because my parents fell ill unexpectedly. They were supposed to look after Paul for three weeks. So, I need childcare for one week starting next Monday.

When the G. family moved from North Rhine-Westphalia to Herrenberg near Stuttgart in 2010, because the father, Hardy, took a job as a software consultant at IBM's Böblingen branch, the young family found themselves quite alone in a new environment. His son was 3 years old at the time, and the daughter was only 3 months old. And full-day nursery or kindergarten places were not something they could find quickly.

I frequently go on business trips because we have several large company locations," describes Christine S. her professional routine. The 48-year-old is a personnel development officer and mother of a 7-year-old son. "Trains are sometimes delayed, I have to change, and it's often not possible to pick up my son from the after-school care on time." Knowing that her child is reliably and lovingly cared for is important to the working mother.

In the mornings, get the youngest ready for school and the eldest for training, go to work, care for the mother from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM, and then look after the children, husband, and own household. That was Petra Knoll's daily routine from August to December 2011. To be able to care for her mother, the instructor even moved closer to her parents. A decision she has not regretted for a single day.

I want to do this for as long as I can," says retiree Gabriele Krschka from Stuttgart, who looks after 3-year-old Emily as a surrogate grandma. She has always liked children, the 69-year-old recounts. And since she unfortunately had no children of her own, she got involved in looking after the children of her friends and neighbors. She can look back on a total of 30 years of experience in childcare, the retiree reports proudly.

At the age of 8, Gerit's daughter Kirsten H. is already at an age where she wants to have a say in childcare. "If it hadn't been right for our daughter, then we wouldn't have done it," says Gerit from Poing near Munich. The 44-year-old computer scientist works as a project manager at metafinanz Informationssysteme GmbH and is responsible for the "Claims" area, where she and her team develop specialist and technical solutions for the insurance industry. She already has experience in finding childcare beyond the normal daycare places, as Gerit started working part-time for 20 hours a week during parental leave, just 7 months after the baby was born.

Just before Christmas, it's expected to happen: The third child of the K. family from the Stuttgart area is anticipated. The 40-year-old project manager and his wife (32) already have a boy (5) and a little girl (2.5), both born via cesarean section. As a well-organized project manager, Michael K. can calculate that his wife will need help around the time of the birth and afterwards as well.

As part of the awards ceremony for the "Land of Demographic Opportunities" ideas competition organized by RWTH Aachen, the Demography Atlas will be presented on Friday, September 6, 2013. The publication contains 101 ideas for solving demographic challenges in the workplace, selected from the competition entries. famPlus is included with "Elder- and Familycare." With this offering, famPlus provides an innovative solution approach for companies to address and withstand demographically induced changes in the workplace.