Jugendamt

Jugendamt (German: Youth office) is a German and Austrian local agency set up to promote the welfare of children. Each municipality, town or “Kreis” (county) – depending on its size – has its own “Jugendamt”. Its structure is flat and does not have any centralized country-wide (own or federal) coordinating office. In Germany the youth offices were created during Weimar Republic by the “Reichsgesetz für Jugendwohlfahrt” of 1922, in force since 1924. Since beginning its internal regulations are left without any major changes. Like many other organisations, the youth offices were terribly abused in Nazi Germany, because its functions back then were taken over by Hitlerjugend. Since the local organizations function independently there is no actual federal administrative supervision. Except that, functions and powers of the youth offices in present Germany and Austria are very much similar to what the Child Protective Services in the US and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service in England and Wales do.


Statistics

The Federal Statistic Bureau (Statistisches Bundesamt) shows [1] steep rise in number of children with problems taken by Jugendamt yearly into safeguard. Since 2005 (10-year period) it almost doubled.[2]

23432 in 1995,

25664 in 2005,

32253 in 2008,

42123 in 2013,

48059 in 2014,


See also

Similar organizations in other countries

References

  1. ↑ "Mit 42 100 Inobhutnahmen neuer Höchststand im Jahr 2013".,'Statistisches Bundesamt'
  2. ↑ "Anzahl der Inobhutnahmen* Minderjähriger durch Jugendämter in Deutschland von 1995 bis 2014".,'statista-Das Statistik-Portal'

External links

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