The Outpatient Children's and Youth Hospice Service (AKHD) Düsseldorf was opened in 2007 and is a contact point for families with children/young people with a life-shortening illness in and within a radius of about 50 km around Düsseldorf. It supports and accompanies the children, parents and siblings. The accompaniment is free of charge. More than 22,000 children and adolescents in Germany have a disease from which they will die early. Together with their families, they face a major challenge: their ideas about the future are shattered when they are diagnosed. The living situation changes abruptly, everyday life has to be reorganized and the topics "illness", "dying" and "mourning" occupy the entire family.

The AKHD promotes self-help in the families, is a forum where people in similar life situations can exchange and network. Voluntary support at home is also possible. The volunteers accompany the families concerned on a long-term basis, often for years. They listen, go for walks with the children, play and are contact persons for topics such as mourning, death, farewell and the everyday life with a sick child.