Apply for integration assistance for children and young people with mental disabilities
If your child has a mental disability or is at risk of a mental disability, you can receive integration assistance. This is intended to prevent your child from having difficulties participating in society later on.
It is available in the following forms:
- outpatient,
- as day care centres for children or other day care facilities
- by suitable carers
- in inpatient facilities and other forms of residential care.
Note: Mental disordersthat result in a disability result in disability, are:
- physically unfounded psychoses
- mental disorders as a result of
- Diseases or injuries of the brain
- Seizure disorders or
- other diseases or physical impairments
- Addictions
- Neuroses
- Personality disorders.
Responsible authority
the local youth welfare office
Youth Welfare Office is,
- if you live in an urban district: the city administration
- if you live in a rural district: the district administration
Contact
Details
Prerequisite
- Mental health is likely to deviate from the typical state for the person's age for more than six months and
- participation in life in society is therefore impaired or such an impairment is to be expected.
Procedure
Contact the relevant youth welfare office with your problems. The counsellor will decide in a personal meeting whether
- Integration assistance is an option for your child or
- other forms of help would be more suitable.
The decisive factor is whether the disorder is actually a mental disability. The Youth Welfare Office will obtain an opinion from one of the following specialists for clarification:
- A doctor specialising in child and adolescent psychiatry or psychotherapy
- Child and adolescent psychotherapist or child and adolescent psychotherapist
- Medical doctor or psychotherapist with specialised experience in the field of mental disorders in children and adolescents.
Healthcare professionals recognise a deviation from age-typical mental health. These are primarily paediatric and adolescent psychiatrists.
The task of social work is to assess the impairment of social participation. The youth welfare organisation ultimately decides on the classification of the person, i.e
- whether and in what form integration assistance is granted and
- whether other assistance may be necessary.
If the assistance is approved, all parties involved jointly draw up an assistance plan. Among other things, this sets out
- which goals are to be achieved through the integration assistance and
- how long the assistance will be provided.
Note: The duration of integration assistance depends on the severity of the mental disability. It therefore varies from case to case.
Deadlines
none
Required documents
Clarify directly with the youth welfare office which documents you need to submit.
Costs
The costs for the help are borne by the youth welfare office.
The legal guardians may have to contribute to the costs of the assistance according to their financial circumstances.
Miscellaneous
none
Legal basis
Sozialgesetzbuch Achtes Buch (SGB VIII)
§ 35a Eingliederungshilfe für seelisch behinderte Kinder und Jugendliche
Release note
machine generated, based on the German release by: 10.09.2025 Sozialministerium Baden-Württemberg