"It is anything but a matter of course that I can welcome so many of you to our conference on the reform of the Care Act on the Saturday before the first Advent," said Bernd Oloff, Head of the Care Office and Administrative Director of the Salzgitter Health Department, as he welcomed the participants.
Among them were professional caregivers, voluntary caregivers, legal guardians from the local care court and employees of the Salzgitter care office. The invited speaker was Mr. Ralph Chauvistré, who has been lecturing on the broad field of care law for many years and guided the audience through the day in a knowledgeable and entertaining manner.
The legal basis of the now reformed care and guardianship law dates back to 1896 when the German Civil Code was created. The reform of the law at the beginning of 2023 is intended to strengthen the self-determination of those receiving care and put the work of the care associations on a more secure financial footing. Ralph Chauvistré gave a presentation on this and explained, among other things, that in future all upstream support options under social law for those affected will be exhausted to enable them to live without care. At the same time, professional caregivers will in future have to submit a certificate of competence, which requires 270 hours of further training. Voluntary caregivers will also have to contact a care association in future to provide them with support.
In Salzgitter, people who require legal assistance are supported by professional, association and volunteer caregivers. The Salzgitter care office is part of the health department and determines the scope of care on behalf of the care court or identifies changes in care needs. In future, it will also have the task of exhausting all possible upstream advisory and support services in order to avoid the appointment of a guardian.
The two care associations active in Salzgitter will play an even more important role than before. The "Betreuungsverein Salzgitter e.V." based in Salzgitter Lebenstedt and the "Sozial betreute Hilfen e.V." based in Salzgitter Bad will provide even more advice and support in future in order to maintain high-quality care by volunteers.
Bernd Oloff concluded: "Today's event was important, because ultimately it's about helping and supporting people in situations where they need someone to stand by them."
