Welcome to HzE – Hilfen zur Erziehung Online (Parenting Support Online). Our services are currently available in German only.
The following page will provide a summary of the most important points in English. This is where you will find information on topics relating to parents and legal guardians, young adults, children and adolescents.
Children and Youth Welfare Office (“Jugendamt”)
The Children and Youth Welfare Office is a local authority responsible for providing public children and youth welfare services and dealing with issues that arise in the family that cannot be solved without external help.
Children and Youth Services (“Kinder- und Jugendhilfe”)
The Children and Youth Welfare Office includes a General Social Service ("Allgemeiner Sozialer Dienst", ASD), which provides support for children, young people and their families experiencing personal or family difficulties. The latter helps to identify the causes of the problem. Its experts can provide you with individual parenting support.
What is parenting support?
Parenting support offers socio-educational assistance that enables you and your family to cope better with the challenges of family life. They can be granted for a short time or for a longer period. The Children and Youth Welfare Office provides you with individual support within your family environment. This means support is provided on a community basis. Support can also be provided for a child in a different location, for example in a residential group or foster family. This means it is provided on a residential basis.
Who will receive the support?
Parents are entitled to parenting support.
What is the target age group for the support?
The support is available for families with underage children
What requirements do I need to meet in order to obtain parenting support?
- There must be a need for the support. As parents, you are unable to guarantee an upbringing that is in the best interests of your child.
- Parenting support can have a positive influence on the child's or young person's development.
- The parents’ and family’ cooperation is essential. This is the only way to ensure that support is effective and the situation within the family improves.
Parents and legal guardians
Living together as a family can be challenging. There are times when parents need support. The Children and Youth Welfare Office will provide you with all the advice you need and support you individually.
Young adults
The transition to adulthood is often challenging: Is support from family and friends not enough? Do you find living alone difficult? Do you find it hard to fill out applications and contact public authorities and agencies? The Children and Youth Welfare Office is your point of contact in these and many other situations. It will help you to forge your own path independently.
Children and adolescents
Life can be complicated. Are you experiencing problems at home or with your parents? Don't know what to do with your spare time? Things not going so well at school? If so, you can contact the Children and Youth Welfare Office. The people there can almost always provide you with advice or help.
Integration support
Integration support for children and young people living with a mental disability or a potential mental disability as set out in Article 35a Book 8 of the German Social Code.
It aims to ensure that children and young people with disabilities can participate equally, fully and actively in everyday life. Integration support helps children and young people with disabilities to pursue a self-determined and independent life.
Is a child in distress? Contact a Children and Youth Welfare Office –
reporting endangerment to the welfare of a child
The Children and Youth Welfare Office also provides help in urgent crises.
Is a child in need of urgent support?
Are you a child yourself and don't know what to do?
Then call the child and youth protection hotline at your local Child and Youth Welfare Office whenever you need to. You will be able to talk to someone at any time of the day or night. You can also call the police.
Child and youth protection hotline: 116 111
Parents’ hotline: 0800 111 0 550
Direct line to the police: 110
What to do next:
How can I get parenting support?
- Making contact: You can make contact via "Get in touch” (Get in touch – Parenting support (hilfen-zur-erziehung-online.de). You can choose between general advice and making an online request. General advice is an easily accessible service that you can obtain quickly and easily by filling in a contact form. If you have a pressing need and have already made enquiries about potential support in advance, you can submit an online request and describe your case in more detail. This will enable staff at the Children and Youth Welfare Office to categorise your case. You will only be able to apply for support after a face-to-face interview.
- Consultation at the relevant Children and Youth Welfare Office: You can discuss your concerns with an expert from the Children and Youth Welfare Office. You will be advised on what you can do next.
- Decision on support: You will select the right kind of support together with the Children and Youth Welfare Office.
- Submitting an application: You submit an application for support. This includes parenting support, support for young adults and integration support.
- Approval: The Children and Youth Welfare Office approves your application. It will then instruct an independent organisation to provide support.
- Developing a support plan: You will define what you hope to achieve together with the Children and Youth Welfare Office, which will subsequently draw up a plan for the support.
- Implementing the support: As a rule, support is provided by an independent organisation. Your cooperation is important in this regard.
- Reviewing the support: Together with the Children and Youth Welfare Office, you will review the support plan at regular intervals.
- Adjusting or discontinuing support: In the best case scenario, you will no longer need support, in which case, support will be discontinued.