🧭 Care leavers: overview and legal basics
In brief
"Care leaver" is not a legal term, but a word commonly used among professionals and self-advocacy groups for young people who have grown up, at least for a time, in a foster family (full-time foster care, § 33 SGB VIII) or in a residential care facility (§ 34 SGB VIII) and who have to manage the transition out of youth welfare into independent adult life – often without the family safety net that other young adults can fall back on. On your 18th birthday you come of age (§ 2 BGB): any existing guardianship ends, you gain full legal capacity and from then on make legal decisions yourself. Your entitlement to youth welfare, however, does not end automatically – it can be continued as "support for young adults" under § 41 SGB VIII, but as a rule you have to apply for it separately and have it approved.
Step by step
- Know what happens automatically at 18Guardianship ends by law, you gain full legal capacity (you can, for example, sign contracts, open your own bank account or sign a tenancy agreement without anyone's consent) and you are no longer the subject of family court decisions.
- Prepare for the transition in good timeAt the latest one to two years before you turn 18, talk to your key worker, your foster family and the Jugendamt (youth welfare office) about the time afterwards – this is part of support planning under § 36 SGB VIII.
- Check and apply for support for young adultsIf you still need support at 18 (housing, training, everyday life), submit your own application for support under § 41 SGB VIII to the Jugendamt – continuation is not automatic.
- Get an overview of money and housingClarify early on what you will live on (training allowance, BAföG, basic income support – Bürgergeld until 30.6.2026) and where you will live before your current placement ends.
- Know the independent contact pointsCareleaver e. V. and the child and youth welfare ombudsman offices give advice independently of the Jugendamt, including in disputes about the continuation of support.
Deadlines
- Youth welfare does not end automatically at 18 – but it does not continue automatically either. Without your own application for support for young adults, support can effectively end without any formal decision being made.
- "Care leaver" is not a term from the law. Notices of decision and the SGB VIII use "young adult" (junger Volljähriger) or "young person" (junger Mensch, § 7 SGB VIII) instead – this can be confusing when searching for information.
- Youth welfare offices apply their discretion under § 41 SGB VIII differently. A refusal is no reason to give up – get advice and consider an objection.
- Do not wait with transition planning until shortly before your 18th birthday – some decisions (e.g. type of housing, cost contribution) need lead time.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Who counts as a care leaver
The term is used inconsistently; it generally covers young people with experience of out-of-home placement in full-time foster care, residential care, socio-educationally supported housing (§ 13 Abs. 3 SGB VIII) or emergency protective custody (§ 42 SGB VIII), regardless of how long and at what age the placement took place. Careleaver e. V. and the specialist literature (including the German Youth Institute) deliberately use the term instead of "children's home child" or "foster child" in order to focus on the time after youth welfare.
What ends on your 18th birthday, and what does not
Guardianship (§ 1773 BGB, which exists only for minors) and the decision-making authority of persons with parental care end. What does not end automatically is the need for support and the basic entitlement to youth welfare, which under § 41 SGB VIII can in individual cases extend beyond the age of 21 (statutory wording: "for a limited period", with no fixed upper age limit).
Figures: how many care leavers are there
There is no nationwide official statistic that counts "care leavers" as a category of their own. The official child and youth welfare statistics of the Federal Statistical Office do record ended support for upbringing and support for young adults, but no single reliable nationwide "care leaver figure" could be derived from them in the course of this research; for that reason no figure is deliberately given here rather than an estimated one.
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