Last year, the youth welfare offices in Germany found that almost 62,300 children or young people were endangered due to neglect, psychological, physical or sexual violence. That was around 2,300 cases or four percent more than in the previous year and a new high, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office.
According to the authorities, in 68,900 cases there was no danger to the welfare of the child, but there was a need for educational help – this was an increase of two percent. The number of notifications from the youth welfare offices about a suspicion of a possible danger rose by three percent to 203,700.
Increase during Corona
According to the information, the number of child endangerments has also increased in the long term: In the years from 2012 to 2022 there was an increase of around 24,000 cases (63 percent). The number of cases from 2017 up to and including the first Corona year 2020 increased particularly sharply – by nine to ten percent annually. In the second Corona year 2021 they then fell slightly.
The number of so-called latent cases, in which a current danger could not be clearly confirmed but remained a serious suspicion, fell by two percent to 28,900 in 2022. At the same time, however, the acute cases in which there was clearly a risk to the welfare of the child rose by ten percent to 33,400 cases.
About four out of five of the affected children were younger than 14 years, about every second even younger than eight years, it said. Almost half of the boys and girls affected (47 percent) were already using a child and youth welfare service at the time the risk was assessed, i.e. they were already in contact with the support system.
