Inobhutnahme von Kindern und Jugendlichen

• § 42 Sozialgesetzbuch, Achtes Buch (SGB VIII) – Inobhutnahme von Kindern und Jugendlichen

Taking children and young people into care according to § 42 of the Social Code, Book Eight (SGB VIII)

If there is an urgent danger to the well-being of a child or young person in his or her family or with another person, the youth welfare office must take the girl or boy into its care. In such a situation, children and adolescents can also ask to be taken in themselves at any time.

What does taking into care mean?

Being taken into care means temporary admission and placement in a safe place, for example with a suitable person, in a foster family on standby, in an institution (child and youth emergency service) or in another assisted living arrangement.

Within the framework of taking the child into care, the Youth Welfare Office clarifies together with the child or young person how this situation could come about and points out possibilities for help and support. The Youth Welfare Office will approach the parents (or custodians or legal guardians) to mediate in the conflict and - if necessary - initiate further assistance.

Further measures

It could be that the parents (guardians/custodians) are not available, not willing or not able to cooperate with the youth welfare office. In such a situation, the youth welfare office will apply to the family court for necessary measures.

Attention Do not hesitate to inform the Youth Welfare Office if you as neighbours, relatives, educators and teachers or in any other context learn that a child or young person in your social circle or sphere of influence is at risk in his or her family.

• the welfare of the child or young person is urgently endangered, either at the child's own discretion or at the discretion of the staff of the Youth Welfare Office

Note: The prerequisite for taking into care is also met, for example, if a foreign child arrives in Germany unaccompanied by adults and neither custodians nor legal guardians are present in Germany.

none

If children or young people themselves ask to be taken in, the Youth Welfare Office is obliged to take them into care. If child and youth welfare workers determine that there is an urgent danger to the child's well-being, they must place the child in the care of the youth welfare office.

Rights and duties during custody

The Youth Welfare Office is entitled to temporarily take all legal steps necessary for the welfare of the child or young person. This includes, among other things, supervision, care, education and determining the place of residence.

• As soon as a child is taken into care, he or she may notify a person he or she trusts.
• The staff of the Youth Welfare Office are obliged to inform the parents or legal guardians immediately.
  In some serious cases, the Youth Welfare Office will inform them that the child has been taken into care without stating the place of placement or the reason for taking the child into care.
• Children and adolescents are involved in all decisions concerning the taking into care, depending on their age and stage of development.

Decision on return to parents

• If the parents do not agree to the taking into care
  , the youth welfare office must decide whether the child can be handed over to the parents or legal guardians.
• If this is not the case, the family court must decide what measures are to be taken for the child's welfare.

End of custody

• The custody ends when the child leaves the place of placement.
• Depending on whether the child can return to his or her family or not, he or she is picked up by the parents, the custodians/legal guardians or by a foster carer or the educator of an institution and handed over to this person.
• As a rule, the Youth Welfare Office does not take over the return of the child to its family.

Placement in the care of the youth welfare office: always temporary.

The Youth Welfare Office strives to bring about a permanent solution for its protégé, for example by clarifying the domestic situation or by placing him or her in a foster family, in an institution or in a supervised residential community.

If a child or adolescent is taken into care by the Youth Welfare Office against the will of the parents (or guardians), the Family Court may temporarily or permanently withdraw part or all of the parental care.

Only if the parents are willing to cooperate with the youth welfare services and there is thus a prospect of an improvement in the domestic situation, can the child return to its family.