The German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR) has warned against placing so-called “system disruptors” in closed residential facilities amid rising debates over Germany’s overloaded child and youth welfare systems.
According to Claudia Kittel, head of the institute’s monitoring office for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, freedom-restricting measures should only be considered as a last resort and employed for the shortest possible period; they should generally be avoided entirely. The DIMR stresses that the recommendations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child are clear: instead of constructing new institutional facilities, existing outpatient support for children and families must be significantly strengthened.
As Germany’s national human rights institution, DIMR monitors the implementation of fundamental human rights in the country and reports findings to the United Nations. Due to the extreme workload placed upon youth welfare offices across federal states, there has been a rise in political discussion surrounding dedicated closed institutions for children and youth exhibiting challenging behavior-those whose complex needs exhaust all other available support systems.
