ISS Germany (ISD) has launched a Practice Guide on Cross-border Casework in the Field of Child and Youth Services

More and more often, youth welfare offices and courts are confronted with questions about cross-border issues, e.g. concerning family conflicts or child abduction, child protection, as well as placement of children across borders. 

However, every country has its own family law and child welfare systems. Moreover, there are cultural differences as well as the language barrier, which may cause misunderstandings on the part of the persons involved and impede the process of providing assistance. In addition, international conventions between the States and at European level have to be complied with. 

In order to handle complex intercultural and cross-border cases, it is therefore of great importance for those working in the field of child and youth services to obtain professional and reliable support. There is no such thing as an “international youth welfare office”. The “Internationaler Sozialdienst” (ISD) within the German Association for Public and Private Welfare, being part of the worldwide network of International Social Service (ISS), can provide support by means of counselling and advice, and by mediating.

Against this background, International Social Service Germany within the German Association for Public and Private Welfare set up a working group in spring 2016, and now presents a practice guide on cross-border casework in the field of child and youth services, which was adopted by the presidium of the German Association on 15th May 2018. 

By means of examples from everyday work, the practice guide, which is suitable for daily use, describes ways to deal with typical case constellations, provides information on the legal framework, explains the course of the procedure, and provides information on contact persons.

The guide in German language is available as download here, the list of contents also in English is available here.