Vortrag + Diskussion
Europe@DJHT
Deutscher Caritasverband e.V.
Children and young people from the field of educational assistance are often discriminated against, also with regard to the freedom of travel, which is restricted by the Brussels IIb Regulation. This results in consequences and hurdles for schools, youth welfare offices, associations, and educational aids.
Contacting people from different countries and cultures, young people learn to develop tolerance, openness and intercultural competence. They learn to navigate different cultural contexts and respect cultural differences. In addition, spending time abroad enables young people to get to know themselves better and to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses. They can thus broaden their perspectives, discover new interests and develop personally. Young people learn to behave appropriately in different cultural contexts, avoid misunderstandings and build successful interpersonal relationships. A multitude of arguments to think of educational aids in a European way and to recognize weaknesses.
That sounds simple, but in practice it is more than complicated!
Children and young people using the youth welfare support system face many restrictions if they want to live the European idea. Every time a border is crossed, a consultation procedure for the child or adolescent must be completed in advance by the occupying youth welfare office. This is regulated in the Brussels IIb Regulation, a European regulation for international custody conflicts. The host country must give its consent for the young person to travel to the country and stay there. At the same time, each host country has its own procedures for implementing the Brussels IIb Regulation. This often leads to difficulties. Youth welfare services abroad, holiday trips with residential groups, or spontaneous day or leisure visits to countries close to the border are therefore hardly or no longer possible. The same applies to participation in international events such as the Kirchentag, international camps, class trips or educational trips.
As a result, this means that children and young people from educational assistance are usually denied participation in a trip to other European countries.
Further information
http://•Verordnung-2019/1111-EN-EUR-Lex(europa.eu)
Host
Der Deutsche Caritasverband ist der Wohlfahrtsverband der katholischen Kirche in Deutschland. Die Caritas ist bundesweit Träger u.a. von Angeboten der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe. Sie tritt für die Belange von Kindern, Jugendlichen und Familien ein.