With around 950 registered participants, the Wuppertal Youth Welfare Day was once again fully booked. Under the guiding theme "Realities of young people's lives in youth welfare: Perceiving. Understanding. Shaping together", professionals and experts from the fields of youth welfare, schools and academia as well as interested parties came together to exchange ideas.

Many young people still have good reasons to be confident. This is a central statement of the 17th Children and Youth Report of the Federal Government published in April 2024, which guest speaker Prof Dr Jens Pothmann (TU Dortmund University) played a key role in compiling. However, the report also shows that confidence in the future has fallen overall. Politics and society, and child and youth welfare in particular, are called upon to offer young people trustworthy framework conditions with strong programmes and services, even in difficult times with tight budgets. Because: "Confidence needs trust."

Overcoming complex challenges together

The mission of child and youth welfare services is to create positive living conditions for young people to grow up in. "The complexity of our world is naturally also reflected in the way youth welfare services deal with the realities of adolescents' lives. Services and development opportunities can only be productive for young people if they are designed together with the children and young people or, more directly, by them," said Prof Dr Gertrud Oelerich from the University of Wuppertal, summarising the situation and experiences. According to the professor of social pedagogy specialising in child and youth welfare, her own research also shows this. Dominik Ringler from the Brandenburg Competence Centre for Child and Youth Participation and also a member of the expert commission for the Federal Government's Children and Youth Report clearly agreed in his guest lecture: "Participation is the key to shaping the realities of these young people's lives."

Not just said, but also done

Accordingly, the Youth Welfare Day gave young people in the youth welfare system and their various paths a space of their own. In the form of a film, produced by Medienprojekt Wuppertal, which was shown in the presence of the young people. Klaus Schmidt, head of the Aprath youth welfare department at Bergische Diakonie and spokesperson for the working group of Wuppertal educational welfare organisations: "Recognising the perspectives, needs and interests of young people and actively involving children and young people in all decision-making processes that affect them is an essential part of socio-educational work." The film impressively showed how challenging the initial situation is for everyone involved. It also showed how much courage and strength the realities of life in youth welfare require.

Eleven different forums were held to discuss the opportunities and scope for the successful development of young people and their families - using many specific examples: How does the prevention of radicalisation work in the age of WhatsApp & Co? What does queer youth work do for the understanding of sexual and gender diversity, where can it start? How do global crises affect the psyche of young people? And what does it mean when even small things are too expensive?

In Wuppertal itself, for example, 35 per cent of children live in poverty. One of the very important questions for Annette Berg, the city's new Head of Department for Social Affairs, Youth, Schools and Integration since last December: How can a perspective be created for these young people so that they have opportunities to participate in democracy in the future? To this end, she also wants to look at structures and not just individual cases, as she emphasised during her participation in the Youth Welfare Day: "How can I not only provide for these young people, but also empower them, so to speak, to develop their own perspectives? To do this, we need to develop systems that focus precisely on this."

Valuable exchange

On the one hand, the life situation of young people and their families is becoming increasingly difficult. Biographies, relationships and the experiences of individuals in youth welfare are becoming increasingly complex. On the other hand, there is a shortage of specialised staff, which is pushing child and youth welfare services to their limits. During the exchange of ideas at the Wuppertal Youth Welfare Day, it became clear that organisation needs financial leeway for more security and time for ideas. Politicians are also called upon to ensure the visibility of these issues and to set an agenda.

In such challenging times, everyone involved is grateful for the good and lively cooperation. "The Youth Welfare Day is a very special day for youth welfare workers, they enjoy this time and the opportunity to think outside the box. In everyday working life, which is characterised by responsibility for each individual case, there is hardly any room for this matching, i.e. the exchange between theory and practice," describes Christine Roddewig-Oudnia, Head of the Wuppertal Youth Welfare Office. This shared experience is important for everyone to realise that they are not alone.

The conference at the University of Wuppertal was once again able to prove that it stands for well-founded and solution-orientated action as well as collegial exchange at eye level. Klaus Schmidt concluded: "This day, a Wuppertal speciality, is not a matter of course. But the great effort put in by everyone involved is worth it when you see how good it is for everyone to treat themselves to this day and to feel that they are part of a remarkable network." According to Prof Gertrud Oelerich, the spirit of wanting to develop youth welfare together can be felt here at all times. The organising team agrees that this is also a good reason for confidence.