Child and youth welfare | Disaster service instead of social work

"An entire generation is experiencing that they are not helped when they need it, and it is also the experience of children and young people that the state is failing," said Elke Alsago on Friday at a day of action against the crisis in child and youth care. The federal section head for education, training and social work at the Verdi trade union, along with other stakeholders, criticized the fact that inadequate funding, staff shortages, overwork, and high employee turnover have plunged the system into a deep crisis. After years of exacerbated underfunding with increasingly complex tasks, the sickness rate among employees is extremely high. Children's groups have to be closed, and families turned away.

In the nationwide action entitled "Who else will help before the child falls into the well?", employees organized by Verdi personally handed over their demands to the respective federal and state finance ministries on Friday. However, they did not make it through everywhere. While Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) at least had his State Secretary receive the Verdi employees and accept their demands, the participants in the action were not allowed into the building of the Berlin Senate Department for Finance . "The doorman there was apparently instructed not to open the door for us to hand over the letter containing the demands and the daycare reality check results. That is embarrassing and scandalous," reports union secretary Tina Böhmer. The Berlin employees had previously been denied an appointment to hand over the documents with Finance Senator Stefan Evers (CDU).

The dire state of child and youth welfare and care in this country is also demonstrated by a study from the joint research project "Working Conditions and Abusive Behavior in the Everyday Life of Social Workers," which Verdi Federal Section Head Alsago presented on Friday. Whether by employees toward children and young people or vice versa; whether between children or between employees themselves – abusive behavior and even violence is on the rise, the study states. "Poor working conditions, lack of participation, unclear responsibilities, and highly hierarchical management behavior are the causes of this increasing trend," says Alsago. He adds: "Because the employees themselves are not well protected, the children and young people are no longer protected either."

Verdi Deputy Chair Christine Behle criticized the fact that the federal, state, and local governments are constantly shifting responsibility . Municipalities currently cover four-fifths of the financial burden for child and youth welfare services – with the result that, given current budget shortfalls, social work is often only provided on a case-by-case basis, Behle said. And that means: facilities are being closed, there is a shortage of educators and social workers, and overworked employees are fleeing to other sectors. Of course, the needs of children and young people, who require concentrated attention even after the coronavirus crisis, are being neglected.

"We need relationship building, not more metrics and streamlining," criticized Verdi's federal specialist group leader Alsago in light of "new" ideas from politicians. Furthermore, digital equipment in many areas is still at "stone age" levels, added Monika Stark-Murgia. The social worker from Stuttgart also shared her experiences with the public on the occasion of the day of action.

After the isolation caused by the coronavirus, many children and young people are currently overwhelmed by fears of war and the consequences of the climate crisis. "They're experiencing all of this, and the number of mental illnesses, even among children, is rising significantly," explains Stark-Murgia. Furthermore, the children often require one-on-one care because they can no longer cope in groups. Instead, however, in many cases, due to the problems mentioned, only emergency care is possible, and prevention is no longer even a consideration. She also emphasizes: "It's not the children who are the problem, but these entire framework conditions." Therefore, she is very concerned that more and more workers will leave the field. "There is a lack of prospects in child and youth welfare – as in society as a whole," is her impression.