Happily Childless

When Dörthe and Jörg Schick – who are 40 and 41 years old respectively - go on an outing with her niece and his nephew, they feel almost like parents. They have grown very fond of the children over the years, and contact is close – all the more since so since they have none of their own. When bringing the children back home to their parents in the evening, Dörthe Schick is always a bit sad, because it reminds her that things didn’t work out for her and her husband. “Just the same, it’s really a luxury to be able to deliver the kids back to their parents.† Dörthe and Jörg Schick have learned to accept their unplanned childlessness. Once they realized “it was probably not going to happen,† Dörthe Schick founded a self-help group for couples who are unable to have children, acquired training as an ergotherapist and moved to the country with her husband Jörg. “Today, I can’t even imagine having a child. We have adapted ourselves completely to life as a pair,† says Dörthe Schick. Despite this, she still believes that for a woman, childlessness will always be a sore point, one that pursues her throughout her entire life. This documentary presents three different couples who are childless, whether by accident or design, and who must adjust to their situations and find their place in society – and who may even find it necessary to justify themselves.

Screenplay/Direction
Nicola Graef, Susanne Brand

Produced:
2006, ZDF
30 min.


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