Educational advice

definition

Educational counseling is a service provided by child and youth welfare and falls within the scope of educational assistance according to the Child and Youth Welfare Act. Education and family counseling centers, which are either public or non-profit, help children, young people and / or parents with family conflicts or other problems.

The educational counseling is made up of specialist staff who come from different disciplines, such as psychology or pedagogy. The educational counseling can be used after contacting the counseling center without incurring costs for the person seeking advice, as it is part of the social benefits and is anchored in SGB VIII.

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What are the requirements for parenting advice?

The educational counseling is intended to help families to solve and cope with individual, family problems and conflicts. A prerequisite for parenting advice are situations within a family that cannot be managed without outside help. In general, there is a lack of orientation in the family at such moments, the parents are unsettled when it comes to bringing up children or they question their own ideas about bringing up children.

Parents usually suffer from perplexity and helplessness, which is why they seek support from parenting advice. Specific family problems and therefore a prerequisite for parenting advice can be, for example, divorce, separation or death. Furthermore, it makes sense to use parenting advice in the event of massive school problems.

This could be bullying at school, bad grades, truancy, inappropriate behavior towards the teacher, etc. In addition, other problems in the social context can lead to parenting advice. The child can, for example, show a strong withdrawal behavior within the family or contrary to this, it can always seek arguments, behave very defiantly and stubbornly.

Parents can also seek help if they observe an above-average anxiety in their child with nightmares and highly insecure behavior. Another topic for educational counseling is crime and the abuse or consumption of drugs among minors.

You can read everything about raising children here: Is my child ready for school?

How does parenting counseling work?

If you are interested in parenting advice, depending on the counseling center, you can come to an open consultation for the first time or make an appointment by phone. Unfortunately it is the case with various advice centers that you do not get an appointment directly, but have to accept waiting time.

If you have been given an appointment, the first thing the counselor has to do is to get his own impression of the family and their current problem situation. In order to make this possible, the person seeking advice is asked to explain why they are interested in parenting advice. If you wish, you can also take advantage of an anonymous consultation, which takes place over the phone.

Depending on the conflict situation, there are different offers. These can be counseling sessions for parents, children and families. In addition, there is group work with parents and their children, as well as advice and supervision for specialist staff. During a consultation, parents can be given information on the development of children and young people.

Parents also have the option of finding out more about upbringing in general and asking very specific questions about upbringing. This gives parents a safe and reflective approach to their children. In addition, solution strategies for specific problems can be worked out with the whole family and the advisor.

It is also possible that the counseling center makes contact with other people, such as teachers, since the counselor is subject to confidentiality and can only be done on request and with a written declaration of consent.

Also read the article: The parent counseling.

Who bears the cost of parenting advice?

The educational counseling is free of charge for all people who want to use it. There are also no costs for the health insurances, as it is financed by public money and grants from charities. The public funds come from the responsible local authority and, if necessary, from state subsidies and are distributed via the youth welfare office.

You can read detailed information on this topic in the next article: Educational assistance