Competent and Inclusive Youth Welfare Offices (Jakomi)
The Jakomi project supports youth welfare offices in preparing for inclusive child and youth services. Building on the experiences of parents and young people with disabilities, as well as the perspectives of professionals, a mixed-methods approach will be used to map current support and overall planning and to examine the conditions necessary for successful inclusive support planning that promotes self-determination, and is needs-based and participatory.
Project Description
The Jakomi project supports youth welfare offices in preparing for inclusive child and youth services. The focus is on the inclusive development of service plans to assess and fulfill the legal entitlements of young people with disabilities and their families within the context of comprehensive responsibility.
Background and Challenge
To date, youth welfare and social services agencies have addressed the needs of young people in very different ways, using divergent rationales and procedural workflows. The central challenge lies in integrating two perspectives:
- The person-centered approach of integration assistance —focused on disabilities and barriers to participation.
- The family-systems approach of child and youth welfare services —which takes into account child- and family-related needs.
Youth welfare offices face the demanding task of balancing these two perspectives: viewing young people holistically without reducing them to their disabilities, while at the same time providing supportive guidance to the entire family system without adopting a deficit-oriented approach that calls parental upbringing into question.
Research Question and Focus Areas
The project examines whether, when, and how the family systems perspective has been integrated into assistance and overall planning to date. Three key areas are being investigated:
- needs assessment
- options for participation, and
- the interplay between the law and practical structures.
Specifically, the aim is to determine
- how parents experience support and comprehensive planning,
- which needs are identified from different perspectives (parents, young people with disabilities, professionals), and
- what obstacles and success factors exist when incorporating the family systems perspective.
Results
Based on the empirical findings, success factors for inclusive support planning that promotes self-determination, is needs-based, and participatory will be identified. The research findings will be made available to the professional community in a final report and published in relevant professional journals for both practice and academia.
Everything at a Glance
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Duration
April 1, 2026 – March 31, 2027 (Ongoing) -
Research Area
Education and Social Affairs -
Funding
Federal Ministry of Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth (BMBFSFJ), as part of the Federal Government’s Plan for Children and Youth
Research Methods & Approach
Module 1
Group discussions and individual interviews —group discussions with parents of children with disabilities and with young people with disabilities. These serve to explore topics for the questionnaire survey and to delve deeper into the subject matter.
Module 2
Nationwide Questionnaire Survey— a quantitative survey of parents, conducted in cooperation with Kindernetzwerk e.V.
Module 3
Focus groups with professionals – focus group discussions with professionals from three different types of organizations (youth welfare office ASD; SGB VIII/SGB IX specialized services; providers of SGB IX integration assistance), focusing on their current practices and reflecting on the results of the parent survey.
Module 4
Validation workshop on the preliminary results with parents of children with disabilities.
