There are currently 100 legal guardians registered in Freiburg – around half of whom will retire in the next few years. There is hardly any new staff coming in – and this despite the increasing need for care.
Freiburg has a problem. The city is losing its professional carers, professionals who support people in emergency situations. This is shown by a look at the statistics from the care authority, which is located at the Office for Social Affairs: A total of 100 professional carers are currently registered in the city district. Half of them are 60 years old and older, meaning they will soon be retiring. New carers are currently difficult to find – also because the demands placed on carers have increased again with the care law reformed at the beginning of the year.
The professional guardian always takes over when people can no longer take care of their legal matters themselves, for example because they are sick, disabled or old. There are more and more cases like this – in Freiburg, but also elsewhere. This makes the shortage even greater: In 2016, there were 2,846 people cared for in the city, last year there were already 3,405. Mental illnesses are currently the most common reason for care (around 40 percent), followed by physical illnesses, such as after strokes (around 20 percent). A supervisor is often appointed because the jungle of applications, for example for social benefits, has become too dense.
Unlike other municipalities, there are comparatively many new additions to care every year in Freiburg: there were 844 in 2022. According to the city’s care authority, this is due to the location: the university clinic drives up the proportion of new additions because people keep ending up there who need quick medical care but cannot make their own decisions about further treatment. This care is often only temporary.
Around 40 percent of those cared for are not looked after by professionals, but on a voluntary basis – by a care association or relatives. Alternatively, the latter can also regulate care under private law. “These people with power of attorney are increasingly leaving because everything is too much for them or the need for regulation is too complicated,” says Susanne Eich from the city’s support authority. Then care needs to be set up.
But they are also stimulated from outside: a neighbor who calls the childcare office because he is worried. Or a landlord who is alerted by residents to a littered apartment. The suggestion of care must always be made to the local court, which in turn commissions the care authority to assess the situation in the form of a social report. The authority also takes over the search for a suitable supervisor. What is becoming increasingly difficult, says Eich: Today you have to call more than ten career supervisors until you find one who has enough capacity.
The city administration now wants to address the shortage – among other things, through a mentoring program for young professionals. She developed this together with the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district and it should start at the beginning of the year. The city’s care authority also regularly organizes specialist days to provide information about the profession – and to improve its image, because many people fear being at the mercy of a court-appointed carer. Not without reason: cases of abuse and fraud occur again and again. But it won’t work without professional guardians, says Social Mayor Ulrich von Kirchbach: Legal assistance is a marginal phenomenon in the public consciousness, but it is an issue that can affect everyone.
One thing is certain: no professional advisor needs to worry about client acquisition.
#Gap #care #people
