Integration assistance for mentally disabled children and young people

Children and young people with a disability cannot participate in society to the same extent as young people of the same age without a disability. This is why there is special assistance, known as integration assistance. They are intended to compensate for disability-related disadvantages and enable age-appropriate participation in social life.

While the State Office for Social Affairs in Saarbrücken is responsible for integration assistance for physically and/or mentally disabled children and young people in Saarland, the Youth Welfare Office of the Saarpfalz district is responsible for integration assistance for children and young people in the Saarpfalz district who are affected or threatened by a mental disability.

The basis for this is § 35 a of the Eighth Social Code, SGB VIII.

Integration assistance in accordance with § 35 a SGB VIII is an entitlement aid.

This means that two eligibility criteria must be met for a child or young person to be considered mentally disabled and therefore entitled to integration assistance:

1. A deviation in mental health from the age-typical condition must be documented by diagnostics. The diagnosis must be made by a person named in § 35 a SBG VIII. These are doctors of child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy, child and adolescent psychotherapists, psychotherapists with further training in the treatment of children and adolescents or doctors and psychological psychotherapists who have special experience in the field of mental disorders in children and adolescents.
   
   Mental disorders include, for example, autism spectrum disorders, activity and attention disorders or social behaviour disorders. The mental disorder must be prognostic for a longer period of time (at least six months) and not just temporary.
   
   
2. There must be an impairment of participation in social life or in certain areas of life. The most common reason for applying for school integration assistance is that the child or young person is unable to attend school without integration assistance due to their behaviour or performance level. Possible restrictions in participation are queried via questionnaires in the application documents.
   
   

The youth welfare office can only assess whether the young person is at risk of or affected by a mental disability once both eligibility criteria have been met.

Mental disabilities include autism spectrum disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders or addiction disorders if they lead to impairments in participation.

The youth welfare office is responsible for selecting the appropriate help to alleviate the impairments to participation.