In the past year, experts discussed whether the corona lockdown and the associated school and daycare closings would neglect child protection.

The federal managing director of the German Child Protection Association, Daniel Grein, warned that many cases of child welfare risk could go undetected.

Now the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden presented figures on child welfare risk in Germany on Friday that could confirm these concerns.

Kevin Hanschke

Volunteer.

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Overall, the number of reports of child welfare threats, which could seriously damage the physical or mental well-being of a child, increased in 2020. The youth welfare offices determined that 60 551 children and adolescents were at risk of child welfare. That was 5,000 cases more than in 2019. The total number of child protection cases, i.e. all those reports that triggered activities by the youth welfare office to protect children, rose by eleven percent from 2019 to 2020.

However, only a few cases were reported through the schools and day-care centers, from which most of the reports come. The Child Protection Association is therefore assuming a high number of unreported cases. "In April and May 2020 in particular, the number of child protection cases reported by schools were significantly below the previous year's level," says Manuela Nöthen, expert on youth welfare statistics at the Federal Statistical Office.

Only in 15 percent of child protection cases did the information come from a school or daycare center. In the first lockdown months in spring 2020 in particular, the number of reports fell sharply. The total number of reports from schools decreased by three percent to 14,477 compared to the previous year, and halved in April. "The figures show that schools and day-care centers are central pillars in the reporting chain on child welfare endangerment," said Grein of the FAZ Schools and their specialists are at the center of child protection and when providing support to parents and children.

Especially in spring, the number of child protection cases reported by schools fell from more than 1,400 in March 2020 to 674 cases in April, the weakest month. Only in the summer months, when the lockdown measures were relaxed, did the number of cases approach the previous year's figures. In spring 2020, day-care centers also reported significantly fewer child welfare risks to the youth welfare offices. While the daycare centers reported 422 child protection cases in March 2020, there were only 267 in April.

For other whistleblowers such as the police, courts, doctors or neighbors, however, there was no decrease in 2020, but an increase of around 18 percent compared to the previous year. Grein said that there was also a decline in inquiries for counseling services at the counseling centers that are organized in the Child Protection Association. This is also due to the fact that teachers and educators could not refer children to these institutions due to the lockdown. In the second half of 2021, however, the demand for the help offered by the aid institutions increased massively.