The cost of child and youth welfare services has risen steeply in recent years. With a wide-ranging reform approved by the federal cabinet on Wednesday, the German government wants to dampen those costs and make the system more efficient. Among other measures, the expensive practice of individual school assistance for children with disabilities or mental health conditions is to be restricted. Social welfare associations warned of disadvantages for the children and parents affected. The SPD parliamentary group called for improvements.
In future, daycare and school assistance is to be provided preferably in group form. This means that one support worker will be responsible for several children in need of assistance, for example when accompanying them during lessons. The aim is above all to ease the financial burden on municipalities, which have to cover the bulk of the costs. The individual case support that has been standard until now is to remain available, however, where a group solution is not possible or where the "individual need" of the child requires it.
The reform contains numerous further provisions, including on cutting red tape, strengthening family centres and counselling services, and promoting vocational training and integration into working life. A second legislative package is to follow in order to complete the reform.
"We want to make support easier to access, strengthen municipalities, relieve the burden on specialist staff and cut unnecessary bureaucracy," said Federal Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU), who is responsible for the reform. "The decisive point is this: the individual legal entitlement to needs-based support remains fully in place. Where a need cannot be met by a low-threshold service, the individually required support must and will continue to be granted."
Prien's ministry said the need for support among children, young people and parents had risen sharply in recent years. At the same time, municipalities were under "considerable financial pressure: in many places specialist staff are lacking, and complex responsibilities between different benefit systems make access to support more difficult."
The SPD parliamentary group expressed dissatisfaction with the draft reform adopted by the cabinet. "Every child in Germany must be able to rely on an effective protection and support system," said SPD family policy spokeswoman Jasmina Hostert. "The federal government's current proposal does not yet meet this standard." The SPD said it wanted to push through improvements during the parliamentary deliberations — for "more prevention, more inclusion, less bureaucracy and better interlinking of the systems."
Sharp criticism also came from the federal government's commissioner for the interests of people with disabilities, Jürgen Dusel (SPD). "Instead of making things simpler precisely for parents and families with children with disabilities, and making administration smarter, this draft cements bureaucracy," Dusel said. The draft law was "a further signal that inclusion in Germany is coming under more and more pressure."
The VdK social welfare association warned that affected families would be worse off. "The reform relies on bundled school assistance for several children," VdK President Verena Bentele told the Rheinische Post on Wednesday. "But that presupposes structures which in many places do not yet exist at all and for which the funding is unresolved."
The Workers' Welfare Association (AWO) spoke of a "step backwards for the inclusion of children and young people." "With the planned reform of child and youth welfare law, the opportunities available to young people across Germany will deteriorate," AWO President Kathrin Sonnenholzner said in criticism. The Bundestag, she said, must not pass the law.
Left Party parliamentary leader Sören Pellmann warned against achieving financial relief for municipalities at the expense of children and young people with disabilities. He was critical of the planned group model for school assistance: "Even the best support worker cannot split herself into four, and it is in the nature of things that children and young people at school often need support at the same moments or with the same tasks."
According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, the federal government, the states and local authorities spent a total of 78.8 billion euros on child and youth welfare in 2024, 9.5 percent more than in the previous year. Only a small share of that, however, went to inclusion services; two-thirds of the sum was spent on daycare for children.
From breaking news to thought-provoking opinion pieces, our newsletter keeps you informed & engaged.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
