Child and youth welfare facilities Placement outside of own Land (share in %) 30 29.22 23.88 25 20 15 12.07 11.37 8.93 10 7.49 6.89 5 3.46 2.16 0 Bgld Sty Legend: Bgld = Burgenland Sty = Styria Car = Carinthia Car Sbg Sbg = Salzburg V = Vienna UA = Upper Austria V UA T LA Vbg T = Tyrol LA = Lower Austria Vbg = Vorarlberg This figures recorded for 2016 coincide with the observations of the commissions, which found facilities on their visits that are almost exclusively occupied by minors from other Laender. In Styria and Burgenland, the commissions encountered residential groups in which not one child came from the respective Land. If these are very far away from the place of residence of the family of origin and can only be reached with difficulty by public transport, regular personal contact to parents and siblings cannot be supported and secured. Expensive travel also makes it difficult to observe the right to contact. On the initiative of the NPM, facilities in Styria in future will have to ask the technical supervision whether a place is needed for a child from Styria before accepting a child from another Land. Do date, this practice was only applied inside the district. The NPM is hoping for an improvement in the situation from this measure. XX  Out-of-home placement at a great distance from the place of residence of the family of origin must be avoided. The aim is to protect the opportunity to visit and stay in contact in the interest of the children’s wellbeing. XX  As competent authorities for child and youth welfare and protection, the Laender have to provide a needs-based expansion of the care structures. The proportion of out-ofhome minors from other Laender must be kept as low as possible. 75