Our mission – Who are we?
The Child and Youth Welfare Association – AGJ is a forum and network for national associations, organisations and institutions active in public and private child and youth welfare in Germany. The legal entity of the AGJ is the “Management Board of the Child and Youth Welfare Association – AGJ e.V.”.
The AGJ has approximately 100 members, working and acting together in order to communicate and cooperate in youth policy and other pertinent policy sectors at the German federal level as well as in the European and international context. The AGJ members provide an expert network on specialised policy issues in the six AGJ member groups (each organised at federal level):
- youth organisations and regional youth councils,
- umbrella associations of social welfare organisations,
- specialized child welfare organisations,
- the federal-state authorities responsible for child and youth welfare,
- the working committee of the federal-state youth offices and
- institutions and organisations dealing with professionals and education (including further and advanced training).
Since it was founded in 1949, the AGJ has seen its core mission as bringing together the organisational and policy structures in child and youth welfare at federal level. The AGJ regards itself as representing and lobbying for child and youth welfare interests, as an interdisciplinary coalition of organisations and bodies active in this field, and as a cooperative network promoting the unity of youth welfare.
As a rule, the Child and Youth Welfare Association – AGJ does not directly perform services for children and young people. Insofar, it represents their interests indirectly. The AGJ’s member institutions and organisations have the remit and responsibility of implementing, in line with their own specific organisational objectives and values, a set of concrete services for children and young people and their families. The cooperative approach in the Child and Youth Welfare Association – AGJ is based on plurality and partnership. The guiding principles of Child and Youth Welfare Association – AGJ activities are
communication – competence – cooperation.