11 August 2022
Child protection: child endangerment remained at a high level in 2021
Following the record level of child endangerment in 2020, the first Covid year, the number of cases of acute danger to a child's best interests declined slightly in the second year of the pandemic. In 2021, the youth welfare offices in Germany reported more than 59,900 cases where the best interests of a child or young person were endangered because of neglect or psychological, physical or sexual violence. This was a decline of about 600 cases, or 1%, compared with a year earlier. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports an increase of just under 2% (+1,100 cases) in the number of cases examined by the authorities which were not classified as child endangerment but where a need for help was identified. In 2021, the youth welfare offices reported nearly 67,700 cases in need of help. As a result, child endangerment reached its second highest level since the beginning of the statistics in 2012, and the number of cases in need of help hit a new high in the second Covid year.
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