In Germany, around 40,000 children and young people are so seriously ill that they will not reach adulthood. The Mannheim-based association Kinderhospiz Sterntaler e. V. supports these children, adolescents and young adults with life-shortening illnesses, as well as their families, and accompanies them on their difficult journey. A children's hospice is not comparable with an adult hospice.

Paediatric palliative care begins at the time of diagnosis and can continue for weeks, months and even years. The support of the sick children and their families takes place over the entire course of the disease.

In addition to outpatient care and voluntary support, the Sterntaler would like to offer the affected families an additional possibility of support with the inpatient children's hospice, which was completed in 2009. The former mill in Dudenhofen is a "little oasis in the countryside", a place of peace and strength, which the families with their sick children can visit again and again, in order to be strengthened for the often years-long path of care and support.