In custody disputes like the one in Stade, violent outbursts are common, especially against youth welfare workers. A man shot six people there, with the background being a custody battle over a three-month-old baby. The attacker opened fire during a help plan meeting in a mother-child home.
Elke Alsago, head of the federal specialist group for education, training and social work at Verdi, told FAZ that violence in custody disputes is not a new phenomenon. Help plan meetings are often highly conflictual because contradictory ideas of those involved must be reconciled. Alsago herself experienced violence as a daycare director: a father held a pistol to her throat when she was not allowed to give him the child.
A study by Alsago and Nikolaus Meyer from Fulda University of Applied Sciences shows: around 64 percent of surveyed employees in residential child and youth welfare have already experienced physical violence. Psychological violence is even more widespread at 90.5 percent. The number of unreported cases is high: only 47 percent of those affected report incidents as occupational accidents. The authors call for better staffing to structurally address violence.
Source: www.faz.net
