100 years of the Wiesbaden Youth Welfare Office: 1924 to 2024
In 1924, a "Youth Welfare Office" was founded in Wiesbaden for the first time. The foundation dates back to the JWG, i.e. the Youth Welfare Act, which came into force in 1924. At the time, the JWG created a new legal framework for state tasks in the context of childhood and youth throughout the Reich.
Today, the youth welfare office in Wiesbaden is called the "Office for Social Work" and performs other tasks in addition to the traditional youth welfare office tasks.
History of youth welfare
The history of the Wiesbaden Youth Welfare Office can only be understood in the context of general historical and professional developments. The following materials are intended to help with classification.
Legal basis in Germany
What have been the relevant legal foundations for the work of the Youth Welfare Office over the course of its 100-year history? These can be downloaded here.
- Reich Youth Welfare Act July 9, 1922PDF-File1,28 MB
- Hitler Youth Act 1 December 1936PDF-File76,72 kB
- Decree on youth welfare in the Sudetenland March 5, 1939PDF-File1,04 MB
- New version of the National Youth Welfare Act August 11, 1961PDF-File1,80 MB
- Act on the Reorganization of Child and Youth Welfare Law (KJHG) June 26, 1990PDF-File4,52 MB
Historical materials from 100 years of the Youth Welfare Office
In cooperation with the Rhein-Main University of Applied Sciences, Department of Social Work, the Office of Social Work offered an empirical seminar in which students analysed how the organization of the Wiesbaden Youth Welfare Office, its tasks and its self-image as well as its images of childhood, youth, family and society have changed over the 100 years of the Youth Welfare Office's existence. Research in the Wiesbaden City Archives and in the Office for Social Work itself brought to light interesting sources that can be used to shed light on the development of the Youth Welfare Office. These are made accessible below.
1920s
- Administrative report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1921 to 1924PDF-File23,05 MB
- Administrative report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1924 to 1926PDF-File6,48 MB
- Administrative report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1928 to 1929PDF-File7,93 MB
- Administrative report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1929 to 1930PDF-File14,63 MB
1930s
- Administrative report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1930 to 1931PDF-File14,63 MB
- Administrative report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1932 to 1933PDF-File16,62 MB
- Administrative report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1933 to 1934PDF-File31,77 MB
- Administrative report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1937 to 1938PDF-File13,96 MB
- Administrative report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1938 to 1947PDF-File24,66 MB
1940s
1950s
- Administrative report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1950 to 1951PDF-File8,88 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1951 to 1952PDF-File10,42 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1953PDF-File10,90 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1954PDF-File14,52 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1955PDF-File16,66 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1956PDF-File10,62 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1957 to 1958PDF-File7,59 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1959 to 1960PDF-File8,69 MB
1960s
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1959 to 1960PDF-File14,79 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1963 to 1964PDF-File10,66 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1965PDF-File8,19 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1966PDF-File11,92 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1967PDF-File6,69 MB
- Administrative Report Youth Welfare Office Wiesbaden 1968 to 1971PDF-File11,64 MB
1970s
1980s
1990s
- Youth Division from 1996PDF-File1,43 MB
- Participation of children and young people under the Child and Youth Welfare Act - 1990sPDF-File482,38 kB
- The assistance plan procedure for the renewal of educational assistance JuMBoPDF-File21,68 MB
- Basic care psychosocial counseling servicesPDF-File924,97 kB
- Juvenile delinquency in the 1990sPDF-File556,62 kB
- Act on the Reorganization of Child and Youth Welfare Law (KJHG) June 26, 1990PDF-File4,52 MB
- Living space and social servicesPDF-File847,65 kB
- Magistrate's presentation on the formation of the Westend Regional Association 1996PDF-File371,06 kB
- Statutes for the Youth Welfare Office 1993PDF-File3,95 MB
- SV Effects of the Child and Youth Welfare Act 1991PDF-File6,81 MB
2000s
2010s
2020s
Employees remember
The 100th anniversary was taken as an opportunity to interview those who have lived to remember the professional developments in key areas of the Youth Welfare Office in order to preserve "history" and "stories" in this way too.
The interviews were conducted by current employees and recorded as a film, mostly using the online video tool Zoom. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the interviewees once again! We wish you exciting historical insights!
Development of the office as a whole
Three interviewees attempt to trace the development of the office from the 1970s to the 2010s: two former heads of office, Reiner Völkel and Franz Betz, have their say, but Heiner Brülle, the long-standing head of the Policy and Planning Department, also contributes to reflecting on the history.
Talks with former heads of office
Development of support in individual cases (child protection, educational assistance, BSA)
The core of the Youth Welfare Office's work - both in the past and today - is to provide support in difficult individual cases when parents are absent or are not (or cannot) adequately fulfill their parenting duties. This is where the youth welfare office has a compensatory duty in terms of child protection and the promotion of child development. Three interviews shed light on the developments in this important field of action since the 1980s: Both the grassroots have their say (interviews with Thomas Olbert and Dietmar Horsmann) and the management level (Christa Enders, former head of department and later also head of office).
Head of department and employees
Development in the area of "youth care" / youth work
The task of creating educational and leisure activities for children and young people in the creative, political and cultural fields, as well as vacation activities, camps and spaces for children and young people, has long been the responsibility of the Youth Welfare Office. As society and the living conditions of young people have changed, so have not only the names, but above all the types of activities on offer. The interviews with those involved in the field of youth work shed light on developments since the 1980s.
Development in the area of childcare / daycare centers
In contrast to other fields of work of the youth welfare office, the area of childcare today reaches almost all children in the course of their growing up: since the 1990s, children of kindergarten age have been legally entitled to education, upbringing and care in a daycare center and there is a great deal of dynamism in the range of services on offer. However, not only the number of places, but also the content requirements have changed and developed steadily since the 1970s. Reiner Völkel and Harald Engelhard, two former heads of department, Claudia Robek, who is responsible for quality development, and Dieter Lippert and Ingrid Rudolf-Gissel, two former employees who have exciting stories to tell about many facets of this.
Memories of developments in the childcare sector
Development in the area of school social work / social work in schools
Social work in schools is still a very young field in view of the 100-year history of the Youth Welfare Office, but in Wiesbaden it already has over 40 years of history. This is examined in two interviews: Franjo Schohl reports on a pilot project in Klarenthal in the early 1980s and how the work continued well into the 2000s in secondary schools. The annual report on 40 years of school social work complements this view. Heike Richter, Head of the Department for Primary School Support/Social Work at Primary Schools, traces the path of social work at elementary school in Wiesbaden up to the present day.
School social workers remember
Integration and inclusion as key cross-cutting issues for the youth welfare office
Since the 1990s, the integration of refugees has repeatedly influenced the work of the "youth welfare office" and presented the support system with challenges. Sabine Weber reports on the different phases of dealing with "integration".
From the integration work
Inclusion in daycare centers
Inclusion and the question of how inclusive our education and support system is with regard to young people with disabilities is more relevant today than ever. The interview with Marlies Kopplow, Ellen Wilde-Steinert and Jürgen Bischoff is dedicated to this topic with a focus on the development of integration and inclusion in Wiesbaden's daycare centers since the 1990s.
From the daycare centers
Community work equals social work beyond the target groups of children, young people and parents
Since the 1970s, community work (GWA; formerly also known as "Brennpunktarbeit") has supplemented the services offered by the youth and social welfare office at the level of disadvantaged neighborhoods and districts and is still a central component of social services in Wiesbaden today.
From community work
The symposium "100 years of the Wiesbaden Youth Welfare Office" 2024
On October 8, 2024, the Wiesbaden Office for Social Work celebrated the 100th anniversary of the "Youth Welfare Office" as part of a symposium and opening ceremony. The event was hosted by Daniela Leß, Head of the Office for Social Work. The occasion was the founding of the Youth Welfare Office of the state capital of Wiesbaden in September 1924 by two local statutes dated September 3 and 12 as a welfare and youth welfare office. Today, the Youth Welfare Office is organizationally located in several departments of the Office for Social Work.
Welcoming addresses were given by Gert-Uwe Mende, Lord Mayor (digital greeting), Dr. Patricia Becher, Head of Department for Social Affairs, Education and Housing, Susanne Rothenhöfer, Hessian Ministry of Labour, Integration, Youth and Social Affairs, Department II - Women, Children and Youth.
As part of the symposium, the history of 100 years of youth welfare was first presented in two lectures, which took place in cooperation with the Rhein-Main University of Applied Sciences and Spiegelbild, and the importance of dealing with the history of social work was discussed. The participants then came together in five specialist forums to discuss topics of particular importance to the office. This was followed by a joint networking event.
Program
14:00 to 14:30: Ceremonial opening
2.30 to 3.15 p.m.: 100 years of history - 100 years of youth welfare - 100 years of the Youth Welfare Office (with exhibition), speakers: Beate Hock, Vanessa Imrock
15.15 to 15.45: Why it is important to deal with the history of social work, speakers: Thure Alting, Benny Momper
15.45 to 16.15: Break with coffee and snacks
16.15 to 17.30: Five parallel forums
- Forum 1: Individual case help / educational help and upheavals of the 80s and 90s: regionalization, introduction of SGB VIII, help planning with the Jumbo with speakers including: Esther Wagner, Leonie Rink, Peter Rollmann, Beate Mayer, Anita Ungeheuer-Eicke
- Forum 2: "Youth care" in changing times - spaces for development and education to become a self-determined, responsible and community-oriented personality, speakers: Sabine Herrmann, Boris Seel
- Forum 3: (Ensuring) childcare as a task of the youth welfare office - from a stopgap measure for a few to a legal entitlement for all and the right to education, upbringing and care as a public task, Speakers: Oliver Klump, Heike Richter, Thomas Scheffler
- Forum 4: The role of the Wiesbaden Youth Welfare Office and the Wiesbaden Youth Welfare Service in the transition from school to work - the development of cooperation between the legal systems, Speakers: Dan-Pascal Goldmann, Anke Kinzelbach, Dr. Rabea Krätschmer-Hahn, Jessica Mittelhäußer
- Forum 5: More than just a youth welfare office - work in the districts and neighborhoods as a task beyond traditional youth welfare - a look at Wiesbaden's history and development, Speakers: Andrea Dingeldein, Silke Müller, Petra Ebeling, Heiner Brülle
17.30 to 17.45: Conclusion