Fostering the Integration of Immigrant Children and Young People

Immigrant children and young people are confronted with special problems in our society. A disproportionately large number of them do not find access to training or a job, and they also struggle with language problems.

The same problems apply to ethnic German young people who, as Germans and immigrants, may not experience an immigration situation in legal respects but certainly to so in cultural and social respects, which has been aggravated by the poor language proficiency of this group, which indeed has been deteriorating since the 1990s.

The objective of child and youth policy is therefore to promote the integration of immigrants, in particular equal opportunities and development potential for children and young people. Aside from the necessary legal framework and awareness of immigrants’ specific needs on the labour market and in education and training, it emphasises targeted language training as the central element of effective integration policy.

The Federal Ministry contributes sizeable funds to measures aimed at the integration of young immigrants; they include in particular the guarantee fund and the integration programme of the Child and Youth Plan of the Federation. The finances provided from the guarantee fund are primarily used to finance German language training and to enable the target individuals to obtain a qualified school-leaving diploma. The integration programme is primarily used for funding youth welfare organisations under the auspices of the voluntary national youth welfare organisations.

The use of information technology to improve language the skills of immigrant young people seems to be a successful contribution to the integration of these young people into jobs and into society. This is why the youth service organisations which are sponsored by the Federal Ministry and responsible for the integration of young immigrants are increasingly being equipped with this technology. Particularly in the extracurricular sector, young immigrants must be encouraged to continue to improve their language and social skills themselves on the basis of the language course and under supervision.

The National Integration Plan presented in July 2007 provides the framework for improving the quality of integration of immigrant children and young people, as well as their families. It contains clear objectives, specific measures and voluntary commitments on the part of governmental and non-governmental stakeholders alike, which are complemented by criteria for the evaluation and implementation of the objectives and measures.

The Federal Government has taken a new approach of pursuing an enabling and sustainable integration policy which recognises and enhances the potential of immigrants.