crime
Attendorn case: youth welfare office admits deficits
An eight-year-old girl is said to have been held in a house in Sauerland for almost her entire life. photo
© Franz-Peter Tschauner/dpa
The child was held in the mother’s house in Sauerland for seven years. Shouldn’t the youth welfare office have intervened earlier? The authority now admits that there may have been omissions.
In the case of the girl who was isolated and imprisoned for years in Attendorn, Sauerland, the district youth welfare office has admitted deficits for the first time. According to a report published on Tuesday by NRW family minister Josefine Paul (Greens), the technical procedural standards for child protection drawn up in 2003 “were not fully complied with”.
The youth welfare office intends to review its organizational structures and seek advice from the state youth welfare office. Work is underway to improve internal procedural standards. In the future, any indication of a child’s welfare being endangered should be subject to the four-eyes principle.
When asked by the dpa, department head Michael Färber explained that it was mainly documentation deficits that had been identified. “It hasn’t been properly documented,” he said. For example, a reporting form should be created for every indication of child endangerment.
Position plan expanded
The investigation by the public prosecutor’s office against the youth welfare office in the district of Olpe is to be awaited, the state government report continues. For the implementation of the State Child Protection Act of North Rhine-Westphalia, the position plan of the Olpe district was expanded by six additional positions in 2022. The filling of the positions in the district social service is planned for January 1st, 2023.
The girl is said to have been kept in her mother’s and grandparents’ house for almost her entire life, almost seven years. Two years ago and one year ago, the youth welfare office in the district of Olpe received two anonymous tips. On September 23, 2022, the eight-year-old was freed.
The public prosecutor’s office in Siegen is investigating the child’s mother and grandparents for deprivation of liberty and mistreatment of those under protection. She assumes that they did not allow the girl to “participate in life” for almost seven years – not in daycare, school or playing with other children.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the investigations also extend to the youth welfare office. District administrator Theo Melcher had already announced that “procedural processes in-house” would be checked.
State government report