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Individual Care in state residential group homes for unaccompanied minor refugees

   Pedagogical management: Derick Addy

        AVP group homes 1, 2
Rosenbergstraße 2                                                                            Masurenallee 270
47259 Duisburg-Hüttenheim                                                         47279 Duisburg-Wedau

   Tel.: 0203-49973770                                                                        Tel.: 0203-36984844
Fax: 0203-49973771                                                                         Fax: 0203-36984845
E-Mail: WG1@integrationavp.de                                                   E-Mail: WG2@integrationavp.de

The number of kids and adolescents that come unaccompanied to Germany, neither with a mean of identification nor with a legal guardian increased coherently with the rise of geopolitical crises and the expansion of civil wars all over the globe.
These children and minors belong to the most vulnerable group affected by these conditions. They are young people who have frequently experienced horrific things in their early life and are highly affected by physical and mental stress. Often they are possibly highly traumatized by these experiences. In addition to that they come alone to an unknown country where they do not know the foreign language or culture but still have to get by mostly by themselves.
Especially these children have a right according to the best interest of minor children to experience shelter, care and support. They have to be taken care of accordingly to all experienced stresses, fears and traumas, but also receive the opportunity via several formal and informal educational offers to develop their potentials and be integrated into the environment they now live in.

The offer

The AVP- residential group home for minors offers a stationary assistance for unaccompanied refugees for the age of 16 and older. This offer is aligned to develop independency and maturity of the adolescents. They are being enabled to establish these goals through several care offerings and daily activities designed specifically to match their needs. These methods aim to become a guidance in regards to their future way of life and prepare the juveniles for upcoming forms of independency such as living alone. Furthermore the offer is designed to provide medium term help by means of specific integrational processes in order to accompany and patronize the minors.
Exclusion criteria for the residential group are an officially determined need for intensive care, which requires 24-hour supervision, an existing traumatisation, acute danger of self harm or to a third party, increased willingness to use violence, acute addiction problems or high nursing need.

The aims of the offer are:
Stabilization of personality
Independence
Educational support

Personnel structure

In the residential groups only skilled workers (social pedagogues, social workers, educators) work in a caring function. The team in the residential groups consists of 2 full-time specialists. If necessary, mother-tongue interpreters are called in.

Scope of care

The support of the target group takes place according to demand, group and individually specific. The full-time specialists will be in the residential group at peak times and will coordinate and support the central processes. In particular, this includes collective breakfast in the morning with a discussion of the daily routine of each individual and clarification of problems, joint preparation of food and the meal at noon as well as dinner where daily events are reflected and group activities planned. This is followed by individual discussions between the specialist and the young people. A night standby service is provided as required, but is generally not planned.

Integration competence

In addition to the leisure activities in the residential groups, the young people can use the public leisure facilities (youth centers), the leisure pools, the public library, the offers of the adult education centre as well as numerous fitness and sports offers and the offers of the local associations.