Eingliederungshilfe für seelisch behinderte Kinder und Jugendliche beantragen

If an (impending) mental disability is diagnosed, children are entitled to integration assistance in accordance with Section 35a SGB VIII.

Integration assistance in accordance with Section 35a SGB VIII is a youth welfare measure. The youth welfare office decides on the type, scope and duration of the assistance. In contrast to educational assistance, the child/young person and not the legal guardian is entitled to integration assistance.

An expert (doctor for child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy, child and adolescent psychotherapist or doctor or psychologist/psychotherapist with special experience in the field) must assess the child's mental health. He or she will state which disorders and to what extent the child is already demonstrably impaired.

On the basis of the expert opinion and its own professional assessment of the impairment of the child's participation in society, the youth welfare office makes a decision on the integration assistance to be granted.

• Application
• Specialist's report on the deviation of mental health

• Children or young people are entitled to integration assistance if
  • their mental health is very likely to deviate from the typical state for their age for more than six months and
  • their participation in life in society is therefore impaired or such an impairment is to be expected.
• A medical specialist must confirm that your child has a deviation in mental health
• Your child must not yet be 21 years old

The World Health Organization defines which mental impairments are considered mental disabilities.

Mental disabilities include, among other things

• Psychoses that cannot be physically justified
• Mental disorders as a result of
  • diseases or injuries of the brain
  • seizure disorders or
  • other diseases or physical impairments
• addictions
• neuroses
• personality disorders

The costs for outpatient help are usually borne by the youth welfare office.
The legal guardians may have to contribute to the costs of inpatient help according to their financial circumstances.

Contact the responsible youth welfare office with your problems. The counselor will decide in a personal meeting whether

• integration assistance is an option for your child or
• other forms of help would be more suitable.

If integration assistance is an option, you must apply for it.

• Up to the child's 15th birthday, the legal representatives apply for integration assistance for the child.
• Young people aged 15 and over can apply for services themselves. However, the consent of the legal guardians is required to determine the place of residence if assistance is provided outside the family.

The decisive factor is whether the disorder is actually a mental disability. The youth welfare office will obtain an opinion from one of the following specialists to clarify the deviation in mental health:

• Doctor of child and adolescent psychiatry or psychotherapy,
• Child and adolescent psychotherapist or child and adolescent psychotherapist,
• Physician or psychotherapist with special experience in the field of mental disorders in children and adolescents.
• Own professional assessment of the impairment of participation in society

Based on this opinion and its own assessment, the youth welfare office decides

• whether and in what form it will grant integration assistance and
• whether other assistance may be necessary.

If the assistance is approved, all parties involved draw up an assistance plan together. Among other things, this plan specifies

• which goals are to be achieved through the integration assistance and
• how long the assistance will be provided.
• that the assistance is usually reviewed after six months

The duration of integration assistance depends on the severity of the mental disability. It therefore varies from case to case.

Parents whose child has a mental disability can apply for integration assistance.

This is intended to prevent the child from having difficulties participating in society later on.

Youth welfare office