Bavaria: Child protection in Bavaria: "Something is moving"

Munich (dpa / lby) - With a network, Bavaria wants to better protect children from neglect, abuse and violence.

Bavaria: Child protection in Bavaria: "Something is moving"

Munich (dpa / lby) - With a network, Bavaria wants to better protect children from neglect, abuse and violence. So-called Competence Partners for Child Protection (KPK) support judges at family courts and maintain contact with bodies outside the judiciary, such as youth welfare offices, the police, doctors or counseling centers. Family judge Ulrike Dingebacher from the Munich district court draws a positive balance after around nine months as a competence partner: "Something is moving," she said on Monday when the concept was presented, which has been implemented nationwide since January.

The lawyer values ​​the interdisciplinary approach as particularly positive. Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich (CSU) also emphasizes this: “Everyone has to pull together when it comes to child protection”.

According to figures from the State Office for Statistics, youth welfare offices in the Free State registered a risk in 19,587 cases in 2021, nine percent less than in 2020. The most common reasons were neglect and physical or psychological abuse.

Since 2011, the Bavarian child protection clinic has been available to specialist agencies such as youth welfare offices and doctors. The new concept should now strengthen the judiciary, with competence partners in all three districts of the higher regional courts.

"Family judges have to make serious and far-reaching decisions and take appropriate measures to protect children. This can also mean taking a child from his family to protect him," said Eisenreich. This task is personally demanding. "In such a sensitive area, responsible decisions often have to be made at short notice. We want to support that as best we can."