Child and youth welfare facilities be that not all Laender have created the mandatory child and youth welfare plan pursuant to the Federal Children’s and Youth Service Act 2013 yet. The NPM requests the relevant Laender to conduct needs analyses and increase the number of places as soon as possible. There are also insufficient crisis de-escalation places in Austria. In recent years, the existing crisis centres have been nigh on continuously fully occupied and, at times, even severely overcrowded. This leads to above-average waiting times for a suitable care place. In Vienna, the average occupancy of the crisis centres was 98.57% in 2017. Time and again, on their visits the commissions find twelve instead of the eight children as prescribed. In November 2017, there was overcrowding in half of the crisis centres. In Lower Austria, the occupancy rate fluctuates between 80 and 100 %. Such a high occupancy rate means that these centres can only offer an emergency pedagogical care and not a professional crisis de-escalation. In some Laender, minors are even taken directly from the family to a hospital or shared accommodation if the crisis de-escalation places are full or if there is no crisis centre, as is the case in Burgenland. Cases of abuse in a shared accommodation gave cause for the NPM, with the involvement of the Human Rights Advisory Council, to address a recommendation to the regional government of Burgenland to create crisis de-escalation places. Crisis places overcrowded In addition, there should also be special crisis de-escalation places for children and adolescents with psychiatric diagnoses or post-traumatic stress disorders. The NPM therefore demands the setting up of special crisis centres similar to socio-therapeutic or socio-psychiatric residential groups, with specially trained and experienced staff and a higher staffing ratio. There are also insufficient care places in facilities for mothers and their children in Austria. There is no mother-and-child-home in Burgenland. In one facility, this resulted in a special permit being issued to a shared accommodation for the care of a baby and its mother. Such a makeshift solution is extremely stressful for both the other residents and the staff. It is also questionable if it was in the interest of the baby’s wellbeing. XX  The number of socio-therapeutic care places must be increased substantially. XX  Crisis de-escalation places must be urgently expanded to meet the requirements. XX  Crisis centres must be created for children and adolescents suffering from psychiatric or post-traumatic stress disorders. 73