In many youth welfare offices, employees suffer from a lack of staff and overwork – which in some cases puts children or young people at risk. This is the result of a survey by the ARD political magazine “Report Mainz”, which was published on Tuesday. Of the almost 600 youth welfare offices nationwide, well over half responded. 327 offices, almost one in four of them, admitted anonymously that underage clients were at risk in 2023 due to overload.
According to the information, a total of 80 percent of those who responded said that employees of the youth welfare office’s general social service were overworked. The reasons given by the respondents were, for example, that they had to process too many cases or that sickness levels were high. Only around 20 percent of youth welfare offices said they didn’t have the problem.
According to the survey, youth welfare offices are also finding it increasingly difficult to place children in need in suitable care centers. Around 24 percent of the responding authorities reported that in 2023 children had to spend the night in the youth welfare office’s premises due to a lack of places in care, were entrusted to private individuals or that youth welfare office employees had to take children home with them.
The child protection expert at Koblenz University, Kathinka Beckmann, told “Report Mainz”: “That means that we have children here in absolute danger situations who are not being helped at the moment, who are being raped at home, who are being held captive in cellars at home, who to be beaten with belts.” There are specialists here “who cannot see this because, for example, they are not making home visits at the moment”.
According to the information, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs did not want to comment specifically on the figures. A ministry spokesman told ARD magazine that the ministry was “very aware” of the current situation in youth welfare offices. The department sees “a central challenge, particularly in securing skilled workers in child and youth welfare, and is in close contact with the federal states within the scope of its responsibility.”
