processing of problems, because “more of change” does not
necessarily make the conditions of their care better. In order to
stabilise them, these minors need specific assistance services that are
custom-tailored for them and that they can accept. But even so-called
“system busters”, who defy institutional help again and again, need
not remain hopeless cases if one knows their needs, interests and
traits and does not attach help to rules that are too rigid.
The expectation (which is often created by the media) that negative
paths of minors being cared for by child and youth welfare
organisations can be averted by “solutions” that range from more rigid
measures to restriction of freedom is illusory. The NPM’s critical eye
must be maintained when tougher crackdowns and force towards
“the most difficult” children and adolescents is being demanded,
instead of discussing the risks of societal disintegration processes and
the gaps in the available assistance for minors. The fate of former
residents of child and youth facilities and their experiences with being
brought up in such facilities after 1945, which have been documented
by victim protection commissions in all the Laender, have shown the
lifelong psychological wounds that the consequences of institutional
coercion together with abuse of power can leave behind. In order to
understand, which form of help can (still) reach adolescents, the
professionals must understand what inner voice is driving their
behaviour and must adjust the services they are offering accordingly.
There are no simple solutions for the most difficult problem situations
in facilities operated by child and youth welfare organisations.
Providers involved in this topic need support in planning and
coordination. Such projects require scientifically-based work on the
fundamentals and resources to encompass assistance processes
from different perspectives.
Furthermore, it is problematic that (the most) difficult adolescents have
to “shuttle” back and forth between child and adolescent psychiatry
and residential child and youth welfare assistance only because the
transitions at the interfaces are challenging. It would be especially
important to place the focus on the rights and needs of the affected
minors and to adjust the assistance provided for their full residential
care accordingly. The commissions also observed that time spent in
crisis centres or in psychiatric wards for children and adolescents after
the actual crisis diagnosis has been completed, is much longer than
absolutely necessary because suitable places for after-care for this
group are not available.
The findings of the NPM about care deficits at socio-therapeutic
residential facilities are substantiated by a study published by the
Federal Ministry of Health about the outpatient psycho-social care of
children and adolescents. According to this study, 585 sociotherapeutic and 5,701 socio-pedagogical residential spots existed in
Austria in 2013. As far as the actually required number of socio54
There are no simple
solutions
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents