Taking children and young people into care by the youth welfare office

When taking a young person into care, the youth welfare office works with the young person and their legal guardians to clarify how the situation came about and identifies options for help and support. The youth welfare office mediates in conflicts and initiates further help if necessary and helpful. The aim is to achieve the most stable and secure placement possible for the young person, for example in a foster family, in a youth welfare facility or in a supervised shared flat.

Rights and duties during the period of taking into care

The youth welfare office is entitled to temporarily take all legal steps that are necessary for the welfare of the child or young person. This includes supervision, care, education and determining the place of residence.

• The young person has the right to inform a person they trust while they are being taken into care.
• The employees of the youth welfare office are obliged to inform the person with custody or parental authority immediately and to assess the risk of danger with them.
• Depending on their age and stage of development, children and young people are involved in all decisions relating to taking them into care.

Decision on return to the parents

• If the custodial parents or legal guardians do not agree to the child being taken into care, the youth welfare office must decide whether the child can be handed over to the custodial parents or legal guardians without endangering the child's welfare.
• If this is not the case, the family court must decide what measures are to be taken in the best interests of the child.

End of taking into care

The period of custody ends when the young person is handed over to their legal guardian or legal custodian and a decision is made on the provision of educational support.

Please contact the responsible youth welfare office.

The Youth Welfare Office is entitled and obliged to take a child or young person into its care if

• the child or young person requests custody or
  
• there is an urgent risk to the child's or young person's welfare that requires them to be taken into care and

a) the legal guardians do not object or

b) a family court decision cannot be obtained in time or

• a foreign child or a foreign adolescent comes to Germany unaccompanied and neither the legal guardians nor the legal guardians are present in Germany.

• § Section 42 of the German Social Code, Book Eight (SGB VIII)

11.06.2019