Youth welfare and juvenile justice challenges in Germany

In the Unterallgäu district, the youth welfare office is facing increasing complexity and volume in child protection cases. Christine Keller, head of the Unterallgäu youth welfare office, noted that the last two years have seen a significant rise in the number of children requiring intervention due to neglect, abuse, or parental overwhelm. A specific challenge involves ‘system breakers’—children and adolescents with such severe behavioral issues that they are extremely difficult to place in traditional foster families or residential homes.

To address the shortage of available placements and the lack of 24/7 coverage in existing foster care, the district plans to establish ‘emergency care families’ for children under twelve. These families would be available around the clock to provide immediate placement during nights and weekends.

Separately, in Mainz, the House of Juvenile Justice is addressing the rise in juvenile offenses. Having supervised approximately 1,600 youths responsible for over 3,700 offenses in the last two years, the facility operates on a model that integrates police, prosecutors, and youth welfare services under one roof. Experts there suggest that minor offenses are often a developmental step in testing social boundaries, emphasizing the need for rapid educational consequences and direct communication between judicial and welfare institutions.