Unconditional Youth Welfare Services. From a Two-Fold to an Inclusive Social Infrastructure.

• Applicant: Dr. Vinzenz Thalheim
• Subject Area: Educational Research on Socialization, Welfare and Professionalism ; Public Law
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 465646142

The interdisciplinary network is intended to contribute to a more inclusive design of the German child and youth welfare system (Kinder- und Jugendhilfe, KJH). For this purpose, the perspectives of legal and educational studies on the current service structure of the KJH are brought together in order to open up a fundamental theoretical discourse and to determine future research needs which are provided as an Inclusive Research Road Map (I-RRM). The interdisciplinary approach is of high relevance for inclusion efforts in the KJH, since the division of services into universal services (§11-26 SGB VIII) and targeted services (§27-35 SGB VIII) divides the addressees into categories of persons that tend to contradict the ideal of inclusion. Therefore, targeted services can only be claimed if there is an "educational need". Thus, the granting is linked to a deficit that must be diagnosed by the child and youth welfare office. With the legally binding reference to deficits, targeted services tend to stigmatize their users, which points to serious barriers of use. This structural problem remains also in the recently adopted Kinder- und Jugendstärkungsgesetz (KJSG). This raises the question of the extent to which the child and youth welfare system, with its current dichotomy, actually helps to reduce social inequality instead of reproducing it. The starting point in the network is the idea of an “unconditional child and youth welfare system”. It will be discussed experimentally whether and to what extent a more inclusive child and youth welfare system could be designed if its (excluding) division were to be transformed into a largely unconditional service structure. The interdisciplinary network is intended to initiate a multi-perspective research approach to the dimensions of the conditions in terms of use and their consequences for the provision and design of stationary and community services. The findings, which are enriched by renowned guest speakers, are developed in detail in an anthology with individual contributions of the network members and will be presented in an Inclusive Research Road Map (I-RRM) in order to promote the following potentials for child and youth welfare research:1) Previously neglected fields of action for the promotion of inclusive dimensions in child and youth services are disclosed for systematic research access in the I-RRM.2) The combination of legal and educational studies, which has been underrepresented in scientific discourses so far, will be brought together for the first time in a targeted manner.3) Current and future transformative developments in youth services, such as the ongoing discussion on the KJSG, will be systematically outlined in terms of their inclusive character in the I-RRM in order to point out future research needs.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Mark Schrödter