The history of the children's homes in the district of Cologne goes back to the mid-1920s, when socio-political conditions after the First World War made the establishment of the district's own children's recreation home in Barkhausen an der Porta Westfalica necessary. The repercussions of the Second World War presented the district with the urgent task of providing sheltered and supervised accommodation for the large number of abandoned or orphaned children. For a transitional period, in 1950 the former town hall of Brauweiler, then used by the district as an auxiliary hospital, was set up as an orphanage and named Haus Ehrenfried. As early as 1957, the foundation stone was laid for a new children's home in Brühl that met the requirements of modern home education. The children's recreation home in Barkhausen (1926-1956) as well as the children's home Haus Ehrenfried and its history from 1950 to its closure in 1983 are for the first time comprehensively researched in this study using the files and including interviews with former residents and educational staff.