Taking minors into care
Service description
The youth welfare office has the option of taking provisional measures to protect children and young people. The basis for this is Section 42 SGB VIII.
According to this, it is possible to take children and young people into the care of the youth welfare office. Taking into care is the temporary placement of children and young people with a suitable person (e.g. with relatives), in an institution or other form of supervised accommodation.
The youth welfare office is obliged to take a minor into its care if a child or young person requests it or if there is an urgent risk to the child/young person's well-being (see Section 1666 BGB).
The parents/guardians must be informed of the taking into care without delay. If the parents object to being taken into care, the youth welfare office is obliged either to hand the child over to the parents immediately or to obtain a decision from the family court in order to be able to take the necessary measures to protect the child's welfare.
The purpose of taking the child into care is to deal with a current crisis and usually results in further assistance being offered by the youth welfare office. Outside normal working hours, the on-call service of the youth welfare office can be contacted via any police station.