Care authority

The care authorities (also called care centers ) in Germany are responsible in their respective federal state in the field of care (until 1992: guardianship and guardianship ) for adults .

General

According to the law prior to the entry into force of the Care Act on January 1, 1992, the authority's duties in the area of guardianship and guardianship for adults were assigned to the youth welfare offices (Section 54 a JWG old version). The assignment of tasks to the youth welfare office was perceived as inappropriate and discriminatory, especially by adults. At the same time, the employees of the youth welfare offices also experienced the responsibility of their authority as overwhelming, since children and young people and adults need very different types of professional support. As part of the Care Act, which is essentially different laws (BGB, FGG, etc.) changed, even a separate law for administrative tasks in the area of 1992 introduced was care law created the Care Authorities Act (BtBG).

Establishment

According to § 1 sentence 1 BtBG, it is the task of the federal states to determine which authority is responsible for care matters at the local level. In their implementation laws, almost all the territorial states have entrusted the districts and urban districts with the performance of their tasks at the local level . In the city-states, due to their special administrative structure, there were corresponding special regulations (Berlin: District Offices; Bremen: Office for Social Services; Bremerhaven: Magistrate; Hamburg: no regulation in state law , but tasks performed by the Authority for Labor, Health and Social Affairs). The responsible authorities at local level are sometimes referred to as “care center” (Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia) or “care authority” (Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt). They are often (still) part of the youth welfare offices , in some cases also with social welfare or health offices; only a few large cities have their own care offices.

tasks

The tasks can be divided as follows:

Tasks in the run-up to supervision (advice and support for supervisors; participation in the training and further training of supervisors)
Supervision court assistance (determination of facts for the court, appointment of custodians to the court, rights of appeal against court decisions, presentation tasks)
Public authentication of signatures and show of hands under power of attorney and supervision decrees (new from July 1, 2005)
Management of custody (and since July 1, 2005 also procedural custody) by employees of the custodial authority
additional tasks according to state law (e.g. organization of local care working groups)

Appointment to the authority advisor

Employees of supervisory authorities can be appointed as official supervisors (Section 1897 (2) BGB). A supervisor can only be someone who is in an employment or service relationship with a supervisory authority or its supporting body (usually a municipality). In principle, the same legal conditions apply to authority supervisors as to other supervisors. However, there is no introductory interview at the supervisory court with public authorities ( Section 289 FamFG).

Just like the next of kin have the status of the " exempted carer ", cf. § 1908 i Abs. 2 BGB. This means that most of the supervisory court approval requirements do not apply to investments (§§ 1809, 1812 ff. BGB, cf. § 1857a BGB). They are also exempt from the annual accounting obligation (§ 1840 BGB) during the care. However, the supervision court can withdraw the status of the “exempt” supervisor in individual cases; in such a case, the official advisor is also obliged to fulfill the stated obligations. No fine can be set against the official advisor . In addition, the supervised person's money can be invested with the sponsoring body ( Section 1908g BGB).

Authority supervisor is to be released at the request of the authority management

One of the rights of the supervisory authority management is to apply to the supervisory court for the dismissal of the authority supervisor (Section 1908d Paragraph 4 BGB). However, this care can be continued by the previous official supervisor as an individual supervisor if this does not contradict the well-being of the person being looked after and the supervisor agrees. Civil servants require a secondary employment permit in accordance with the Civil Servants Act applicable to them in conjunction with Section 1784 of the German Civil Code (BGB) in order to continue such care . This also applies if the supervision is carried out on a voluntary basis. In the meantime, however, most state civil servant laws and the federal civil servant law do not provide for a permit, but only a notification requirement for voluntary care. The same applies to public sector employees.

Authorization supervisor's right to remuneration

If a government supervisor is appointed, he is not entitled to remuneration. The supervisor remuneration is due to the supervisor of the supervisory authority. There is only an option to grant discretionary remuneration if the person being cared for is not penniless ( Section 8 VBVG - Guardian and Guardian Remuneration Act ). Otherwise there is a claim to reimbursement of expenses for those under care who are not destitute .

According to the case law of the Federal Labor Court, the activity as a public authority is a difficult activity according to the classification regulations for social and educational services. This means a classification according to TVöD SuE 12.

As an exception, the supervision authority can be appointed as supervisor

If supervision by one or more natural persons ( voluntary or professional supervisors ) and by a supervisory association is not possible, the supervisory authority itself can be appointed as supervisor (Section 1900, Paragraph 4 BGB). The supervisory authority is therefore obliged to take over the supervision if there is no other possibility of taking over the supervision. In this case, the supervisory authority has no claim to remuneration ( Section 1836 (3) BGB), only entitlement to reimbursement of expenses ( Section 1835 (5) BGB) in the case of those being looked after . A sterilization care must not be transferred to the authority (§ 1900 Para. 5 BGB).

literature

Brucker (ed.): Tasks and organization of the supervision authority . Frankfurt 2000, ISBN 3-923098-68-5
Brucker (ed.): Care authorities on the way into the 21st century . Essen 2001
Deinert: Signature certification by the supervision authority . In: BtMan , 2005, 24
Deinert, Walther: Handbook of the care authority . 3. Edition. Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-89817-445-X
Deinert, Schreibauer: Liability in the event of damage being caused by the official guardian, official clerk and official supervisor . In: DAVorm , 1993, 1143
Schulz: Liability of the employing bodies for government officials . In: BtPrax , 1995, 56