Press releases

• Since September 2024, three process pilots have been supporting young people with (potential) disabilities and their families with bureaucratic challenges and advising the Aachen Youth Welfare Office on the further development of inclusive services.
• The advice is intended to guide those affected and their families through the various responsibilities and help them to make use of benefits for participation.
• The reason for the creation of the new positions is an amendment to the German Social Code (SGB).

Since mid-September 2024, the new team of process pilots at the City of Aachen has been complete: Alexandra Eichelmann, Marissa Bengels and Birte Homfeldt-Pals help young people with (impending) mental, physical and/or psychological disabilities and their families. The range of tasks of the three qualified social education workers is diverse: support and assistance with applications as well as pursuing and asserting the claims of those affected for so-called integration assistance. The team from the Children, Youth and Schools department literally guides people through a bureaucratic jungle, as the responsibilities and benefits vary depending on the age, type of disability and individual needs of those affected.

The work of the procedure pilots
The procedure pilots can be contacted not only by all young people up to the age of 27, but also by their parents, guardians, foster parents or legal carers. Heads of day-care centers, school social workers or other professionals often also make initial contact with the procedure guides. It is important that the team provides advice and support for all forms of disability - whether mental, intellectual or physical - as well as for impending disabilities. However, this is only one focus of the guides' work: They are also tasked with helping to shape inclusive child and youth services by regularly reporting to the Aachen Youth Welfare Office and the city's Children and Youth Committee. The aim of inclusive child and youth welfare is to bring together services for all young people with and without disabilities under the umbrella of the Youth Welfare Office.

Although the guides are employed by the Aachen Youth Welfare Office, they work independently in order to be able to support those affected in a free and impartial manner. Eichelmann also knows that this harbors potential for conflict: "Despite our special position, we always act in the interests of those affected. We provide neutral advice and, if necessary, also provide information about possible legal channels. It is very important to us that we are seen as independent mediators."

The legal background
The establishment of the new team is the result of a new legal requirement. With the entry into force of Section 10b of SGB VIII on January 1, 2024, the legislator obliged cities and municipalities nationwide to set up positions for procedural guides. By completing the new team, the city of Aachen is fulfilling this requirement.

A new law on the structure of inclusive child and youth welfare is scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2028. However, due to the break-up of the coalition at federal level, the corresponding draft law will no longer be passed in the current legislative period. To date, child and youth welfare services under SGB VIII have only been responsible for integration assistance services for children and young people with mental disabilities. In Aachen, the Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR) and the social welfare office of the StädteRegion are responsible for mental and/or physical disabilities. The Child and Youth Welfare Inclusion Act (IKJHG) is intended to eliminate responsibility problems so that bureaucratic challenges are eliminated. The law is also intended to ensure that the development of children and young people can be considered holistically and individually, regardless of any existing disabilities - both from an educational perspective and in terms of their participation. However, the how and when of implementing inclusive child and youth welfare is still in a state of limbo.

Helping to shape the transformation
Homfeldt-Pals believes that a major advantage of the new work is the dual function associated with it, namely supporting those affected in accessing services for equal participation and helping to shape the transformation process of child and youth welfare: "Both aspects of our work, which complement each other, still involve partly unknown territory for us as a team, which makes the work interesting. The fact that we can support those affected in asserting their claims and at the same time identify and pass on structural challenges in youth welfare is really great." The case workers not only provide advice in their office or over the phone, but also at the families' homes or, if desired, go with them to the authorities and offices. A frequent reason for inquiries at the moment, for example, is the refusal of a KiTa assistance, which the children are usually entitled to.

Establishing important contacts
In recent weeks, the team has made many contacts both inside and outside the administration. "We have introduced ourselves to every team in our department and have also made initial appointments with relevant external institutions. This process is not yet complete; it is extremely important for us to find out where hurdles and difficulties arise, where we can provide advice and also benefit from the expertise of others," explains Bengels. As the procedural guides are completely new, the three employees are also involved in an LVR working group in which they can network with other procedural guides. In the future, the team plans to visit the social spaces more often. The pilots want to make both the contact and the support services as low-threshold as possible.

Anyone wishing to contact the procedure pilots can do so by email at verfahrenslotsen@mail.aachen.de or by telephone (telephone numbers and further information: https://serviceportal.aachen.de/suche/-/vr-bis-detail/dienstleistung/6349491/show). Advice is confidential, independent and free of charge.