Missed appointments as a child protection case?

A recent response from the German government to a parliamentary enquiry is causing considerable professional debate: For the first time, it suggests that a parent missing three appointments at the job centre could be grounds for child protection measures. It also describes a "duty to inform" between job centres and youth welfare offices - including a reference to possible family court measures in accordance with Section 1666 of the German Civil Code (BGB).

"This combination of SGB II administrative practice and child protection is new in this form and has far-reaching consequences," says Prof. Dr Nikolaus Meyer, Professor for the Profession and Professionalisation of Social Work at Fulda University of Applied Sciences and an expert in social policy, child and youth welfare and working conditions in social work.

Meyer warns of a lowering of the threshold for intervention in child protection and a new form of structural inequality: "Missed appointments are purely a matter of administrative law. If this becomes a child protection issue, it will only affect families in receipt of citizen's benefit. Poverty thus becomes a functional risk marker - and that contradicts fundamental professional standards."

From a research perspective, it is particularly critical that the government's response establishes an administrative concept of risk. "Child protection is based on child-related indications, not on the behaviour of parents towards an authority," says Meyer. "The planned practice shifts the logic of child protection and involves youth welfare offices in a chain of sanctions that contradicts their legal tasks."

The expert sees an urgent need for professional clarification in the public debate about this shift. With his expertise in the theoretical foundation of social work (including life-world orientation and coping with life) as well as professional theory and social law, Prof Dr Meyer is able to provide a comprehensive assessment of the effects of the planned regulation - both for the practice of youth welfare and for the profession of social work as a whole.

Prof. Dr Nikolaus Meyer is available for interviews, background discussions and commentaries for journalists and editorial offices wishing to explain the legal, professional and socio-political consequences of the government's response.

Academic contact:
Prof. Dr Nikolaus Meyer
nikolaus.meyer@sw.hs-fulda.de