State Office for Youth Protection Lower Saxony

Logo of the association

The State Office for Youth Protection Lower Saxony (LJS), based in Hanover, is a specialist department of the State Working Group of Free Welfare Care in Lower Saxony eV (LAG FW Nds.). The LJS was founded in 1978 and works on current issues relating to child and youth protection. Her field of activity includes prevention work in the areas of violence, media, addiction and sexuality. It is funded from state public funds. Imke Schmieta has been the head of the LJS since 2019.

tasks

The State Office for Youth Protection Lower Saxony offers advanced training for educational professionals with the aim of imparting specialist knowledge and expanding educational skills. The target group are specialists from youth work institutions , child and youth welfare, teachers as well as parents and families. The offers are also open to interested parties from other areas of work.

The LJS develops nationwide projects on current issues of child and youth protection. She develops and publishes information material on the topics of violence, media, addiction and sexuality.

The LJS is a member of the Federal Working Group on Youth Protection and the Lower Saxony State Prevention Council.

Another area of responsibility of the LJS is cooperation in supra-regional committees for the protection of minors. The LJS speakers work as examiners in the following self-monitoring institutions: Federal Testing Agency for Media Harmful to Young People, Voluntary Self-Control of the Film Industry (FSK), Voluntary Self-Control Television (FSF) and Entertainment Software Self-Control (USK).

Projects (selection)

Parents talk Lower Saxony

The aim of the project is to strengthen the parenting skills of parents from different backgrounds in the context of moderated discussion groups among parents. The focus is on topics relating to media use by girls and boys and everyday parenting at home, e.g. B. growing up healthy, education and equality, and the importance of playing. The project was taken over and further developed in 2012 by the Youth Protection Agency for the State of Bavaria.

Parent media trainer

Since 2006 there has been a further training course for parent media trainers in Lower Saxony, in which educational specialists are enabled to independently conduct media educational parent evenings as speakers. In the four modules, the participants are trained on media usage behavior by girls and boys, the status of media impact research and youth protection issues. In addition, they are made familiar with methods to train mothers and fathers in a targeted manner and to support them in dealing with the various media in family life.

The contact details of the parent media trainer are stored on the website of the Lower Saxony State Office for Youth Protection, sorted by district. Interested parties can contact the speakers directly and discuss details of the media education parents' evening in person.

Digital worlds - what does your child use?

The project of the Lower Saxony Youth Protection Agency (LJS) is part of the “Media Competence in Lower Saxony - Target Line 2020” concept of the Lower Saxony state government. Through the cooperation between the Lower Saxony Ministry of Social Affairs, the Lower Saxony State Media Authority and the LJS, three actors in the field of youth media protection have come together who want to strengthen media education in families together. In free information events, parents are informed about the media usage habits of children and can exchange information on questions of media education.

Cyberbullying - media literacy meets violence prevention

In the project "Cyber-Mobbing: Media Competence Meets Violence Prevention", the LJS is developing methods and materials for prevention work with young people. On this basis, LJS freelancers carry out project days in school classes and workshops with young people, as well as seminars for educational professionals in schools and youth work.

MOVE

The “MOVE” project (motivational short intervention) has been implemented in Lower Saxony by the LJS since 2007. In the three-day training courses on motivating short interventions, educational specialists are taught how they can talk to young people about their consumption behavior and, if necessary, its changes. The project was taken over by the ginko foundation for prevention .

Daycare MOVE

The State Office for Youth Protection Lower Saxony offers educational professionals support and relief in daily contact with parents and in conducting difficult discussions with parents. The training courses teach and train how "hard-to-reach" parents can be addressed in a motivating manner. The LJS coordinates the “Kita-MOVE” project (motivating short intervention with parents in elementary care) in Lower Saxony, and it was taken over by the ginko Foundation for Prevention .

Together against sexual abuse

The Together Against Sexual Abuse project was set up in 2019 and is aimed at schools and institutions across the country that work with children and young people. These institutions can use the project for in-house training on topics in the context of intervention and prevention against sexual violence against children. In addition, information and work materials are being developed as part of the project.

Protection of minors and sexual health

The State Office for Youth Protection Lower Saxony offers educational professionals information and suggestions to be able to support young people in the development-related challenges. In addition, the topics of HIV prevention and sexually transmitted infections are taken up in the LJS events at the appropriate points and approaches to promoting sexual self-determination are discussed, methods are tested and updated with current facts.