Missed girl found safely in Neunkirchen!

Missed girl found safely in Neunkirchen!

On April 5, 2025, 13-year-old Ashley, who had been missing since March 15, was found safely in the Neunkirchen area in Saarland. The police confirmed that the girl is doing well and that the public investigation is now being withdrawn. Ashley was previously housed in a youth welfare facility in Niederwörresbach, but her center of life is in Saarbrücken. The indications that led to finding the girl were provided by the population, for which the police thanked. Media representatives were also asked to delete Ashley's photo from their archives in order to protect their privacy. According to Presseportal , the young woman was missing for three weeks.

The situation around Ashley's disappearance raises questions about the safety of children and adolescents in youth welfare institutions. Almost 150 youth welfare offices in Germany report not to ensure child protection sufficiently. In particular, the overload of the employees in these offices is alarming. Research by the WDR has systematically shown considerable problems in child protection. For example, there are cases in which social workers such as Sophie Schöttler in Gelsenkirchen are responsible for up to 65 families - twice as many as recommended. In the spring of 2024, 20% of the jobs in general social service were also vacant, which further tightened the situation.

The challenges in child protection

A clear majority of the youth welfare offices are confronted with enormous challenges: more than half of the youth welfare office pipes surveyed complains about frequent or permanent overload of the employees. 42% of the authorities stated that due to limited resources, they were forced to prioritize the hardest cases. This suggests that many children are inadequate and that necessary help offers are not received in time.:

Another critical aspect is the lack of accommodation options for endangered children and adolescents: over 80% of the offices report on this problem. At the same time, around 58% of the youth welfare offices are forced to leave children longer than necessary in family structures because there are no adequate places. In extreme cases, even minors had to spend the night in the official rooms, which underlines the urgency of the problems. The Tagesschau reports that many youth welfare offices are unable to ensure child protection under current conditions.

The combination of lack of personnel, financial savings and the overload of the remaining employees inevitably leads to a critical condition in child protection. A rethinking is urgently necessary to better guarantee the safety of young people in supervised institutions.