Education Office
The education center is an educational aid of the child and youth welfare according to § 27 SGB VIII , in concrete form as a specialist care family according to § 33 (full-time care ) or as a socio-educational community according to § 34 (home education). Education centers are mostly run by independent organizations.
The target group are children and adolescents who continuously need a caregiver due to psychological and social impairments, as well as a manageable, professionally and institutionally secure family-like , small framework. Up to two children or young people and a specialist and possibly relatives form a community. The main difference to the foster family lies in the special care needs of the children / adolescents ( behavioral problems such as car or foreign aggression ) and the resulting requirement that at least one caregiver has a pedagogical training.
The admission age extends up to the age of 15, although in exceptional cases admission beyond that. The supervisor key is optimally 2 to 1, which means that one specialist continuously works in an educational center for two children / young people. Exceptions are illness and vacation, for which a substitute is made available - beyond that there are no assistants, housekeepers or specialists for compensation. The substitution rule is handled individually everywhere. The absence of illness in education centers is extremely low, however, since many specialists there are more willing to continue their "service" with headaches or colds. Vacation without going away is hardly possible, as your own apartment is also that of the person to be looked after.
In most of these offers, coordinators or committees are created to discuss, reflect on and monitor various problems.
Advantages for the children and adolescents are the constant and constant presence and willingness of the specialist, and the family-like integration into their environment (acquaintances / friends, hobbies, etc.). Life experiences are collected in model learning that cannot be made in most common home groups, for example
- Behavior and dealing with illness, anger, worries or grief of adults (reference person specialist),
- Motivation and recognition of vanity, harmony and more personal characteristics through direct access to the professional's living environment,
- Learning how to deal and behave when visiting friends, relatives, partying with adults (group of professionals).
Thus, in addition to the usual pedagogical procedures, an education center offers many orientation aids and learning approaches.
Accommodation usually lasts until they become independent or until they switch to another form of help, such as supervised youth living . But a return to the family of origin is also possible.
