Thomas Baader: A life for the youth welfare office - farewell after 27 years

Thomas Baader: A life for the youth welfare office - farewell after 27 years

An honorable farewell is imminent: Thomas Baader, the dedicated head of the youth welfare office in the Rhine-Palatinate district, is saying goodbye to his well-deserved retirement after an impressive 27 years. Since 1998, Baader has been fully committed to ensuring that young people in his region receive the support they need. In an interview before his retirement, he spoke about the emotional challenges he encountered during all these years, as well as the constant social changes and the acute shortage of skilled workers, which present the youth welfare office with major tasks on a daily basis. He emphasized that this job requires “nerves like steel,” which aptly describes the pressure and responsibility that this position entails. Baader also named an “insane situation” that illustrates how challenging his work was.

The farewell party for Baader was not only an occasion for personal words, but also a moment for reflection on the state of youth welfare offices in Germany. The problems are enormous and affect the entire industry. As WDR reports, child protection in North Rhine-Westphalia is at great risk due to overburdened youth welfare offices. A survey of almost 200 youth welfare offices has shown that around half of them are frequently or permanently overloaded, especially in the general social service (ASD). An alarm signal that was described by the SPD family politician Nina Andrieshen as an “absolute alarm signal”. It calls for clear structures to optimize case processing and improve support for employees.

Challenges for youth welfare offices

The difficulties that youth welfare offices are struggling with are not trivial. A frightening statistic from WDR research shows that almost 150 youth welfare offices in Germany state that they cannot ensure child protection well. Examples such as in Gelsenkirchen, where 20% of the positions in the ASD are unfilled, make it clear how serious the shortage of skilled workers is. Here, a social worker works on 65 cases at times - that's twice as many as recommended.

Another point that cannot be overlooked is the lack of space to accommodate children at risk. Over 80% of youth welfare offices report that they have a lack of places for short-term and permanent accommodation. In 58% of these offices, children simply had to stay with their families longer than is sensible. In practice, this means that 12% of youth welfare offices were forced to allow minors to stay overnight in their offices. These serious circumstances are perceived as intolerable by employees.

The need for action is urgent

The Verdi union has already formulated clear demands: an introduction of an upper case limit of 28 cases per full-time position in the ASD is necessary in order to ease the situation. In addition, FDP MP Marcel Hafke is of the opinion that rapid supervision of municipal youth welfare offices is essential. The need for clear standards and support is becoming increasingly clear.

Thomas Baader's resignation is not only the end of an era, but also sheds light on the major challenges that youth welfare offices have overcome over the years. Even though his time as director is now ending, the question remains: How can child protection in Germany be better guaranteed in the future? A topic that certainly also concerned Baader and concerns us all.