Reform of child and youth welfare: Discussion about school assistants

Karolin Klewe works at Lebenshilfe in Braunschweig and organizes school assistance for around 40 children with disabilities. Almost everyone receives individual care. "The teacher stands at the blackboard and describes the task. And it is explained too quickly, so that the child has not taken in all the content of the task. And then the school assistant is there and says: 'You do that now.'"

Every case, as Klewe describes it, is different. Children with a physical disability need help going to the toilet. For others, it is about recognizing a possible seizure early, controlling emotions or assisting with hearing or visual impairment. But the school support system is under pressure, also for financial reasons.

Federal Minister for Family Affairs Karin Prien believes that “needs are growing, the problems are becoming more complex, and at the same time the costs are rising dramatically and dynamically.” There is a lack of skilled workers and nothing will change that quickly, said the CDU politician.

Prien therefore wants to change the system. Instead of the individual help that is still very common today, in the future - if possible - several children should share care: "Pool solutions should be the rule. Because it is not automatically helpful for the social integration of children if there are a whole series of assistants in a classroom."

But Prien makes an important restriction because, in her view, it must continue to be the case in the future that children and young people with individual needs can receive individual assistance.

Social associations are concerned that the planned reform will lead to painful cuts. Jenny Axmann from Lebenshilfe shows the red lines. "The pivotal point is whether the regulation ensures that the children who need individual support, i.e. 1:1, actually get it, without them having to sue."

The associations and also the Federal Government Commissioner for the Disabled are massively criticizing the draft law for a second reason. Originally, the reform was primarily intended to ensure that children with disabilities and their parents had a central contact for state aid.

So far, different offices have been responsible depending on the disability. After criticism from several states and municipalities, only an experimental clause remains of these plans: municipalities that are approved by their federal state can test whether there should be overall responsibility for the youth welfare office. The representative for the disabled, Jürgen Dusel, criticizes that affected families are still being sent from Pontius to Pilatus.