Family support service
Families with autistic children are often under greater strain in everyday life and are exposed to particular challenges and efforts. To ease the burden, the Family Relief Service, also called Family Support Service, offers affected families the opportunity to take some time off in between to recover, look after siblings, etc. through various individual support services in everyday life.
Since the support needs of different families can vary greatly in terms of type and intensity, the offers should always be individually adapted to the respective needs. The range of possible assistance is very comprehensive and includes care at home for a few hours, group and leisure activities, as well as accompaniment on holiday trips.
Family support services are offered by welfare organisations (e.g. Caritas, Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband, Rotes Kreuz, Diakonie, etc.), associations for persons with a handicap (e.g. Lebenshilfe) or outpatient care services, especially those specialised in the care of children.
Funding is usually paid by providers of integration assistance (e.g. youth welfare office or social welfare office) or by the long-term care insurance fund (e.g. via preventive care and/or the “relief allowance” hier Link zu “relief allowance” im Text „ASD and nursing grade“), if your child has a nursing grade.
Under certain circumstances, the costs can also be covered by the health insurance. In some cases, a personal contribution must be made. Which institution is responsible always depends on the personal situation of the family and must be clarified individually.
Social pedagogical family assistance
If you have a greater need for support in coping with everyday life or raising your child, you can make use of social pedagogical family assistance.
Social pedagogical family assistance is part of the “help for parenting” (§27) in the sense of SGB VIII. The family is usually supported intensively over a longer period of time by a specialist who comes to the family’s home for several hours a week and supports all family members with concrete problems in the sense of “helping them to help themselves”. The prerequisite for this is the voluntary assistance of the family.
Social pedagogical family assistance is offered by various public and independent agencies and financed by the Youth Welfare Office in accordance with §31 SGB VIII. Usually, this service is free of charge for the families.
In order to be able to address the autism-specific characteristics of the child and the resulting challenges for parents and siblings in the best possible way, the respective professional must have special knowledge in the supportive handling of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
References:
Betanet (2021): Sozialpädagogische Familienhilfe Verfügbar unter: https://www.betanet.de/sozialpaedagogische-familienhilfe.html. Zugriff am 24.02.22
Betanet (2022): Familienunterstützender Dienst. Verfügbar unter: https://www.betanet.de/familienunterstuetzender-dienst.html. Zugriff am 24.02.2022.
Cholemkery, H., Kitzerow, J., Soll, S., Freitag, C.M. (2017). Ratgeber Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen. Informationen für Betroffene, Eltern, Lehrer und Erzieher. Göttingen: Hogrefe Verlag