Many behaviors, which can negatively affect a person’s well-being and health, often arise during the adolescent period, a difficult phase in itself, characterized by profound vulnerability and many problems. Adolescents are “at-risk subjects” and therefore need careful monitoring, not to be confused, however, with invasion of their privacy! If, in fact, the former is a tool used to assess the presence/absence of risk factors or already established problems, the invasion in their private life, may instead turn out to be one of the “risk factors” to initiate conduct that may result in one of the ..read more

With the Self-Determination law (Selbstbestimmungsgesetz), the German government wants to improve the lives of trans people and recognize gender diversity. In addition, it wants to abolish the outdated Transsexual Act (Transsexuellen-Gesetz, also known as TSG). The aim is to make it easier for trans people to change their gender and to protect their basic and human rights. What is TSG? In 1978, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that trans people must be legally recognized. The TSG, dated September 10, 1981, defines how a person can change gender in marital status. The requirements for cha ..read more

During the Covid-19 pandemic period, home office work, due to frequent lockdowns, proved to be a key resource for companies, both in Germany and around the world. This practice remained very common even after the end of the pandemic. Although the requirement for employers to offer remote work will be introduced only in exceptional cases, some home office laws will change in 2023. Differences between Telearbeit and Mobiles Arbeiten The term home office has now entered our everyday lives, but in Germany the law distinguishes between two different types: telearbeit and Mobiles Arbeiten. Telearbe ..read more

In the previous article (The family barometer – Expat Care) we talked about the Family Barometer, presented in Germany in March 2023 by Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus, and its three main fields of action. In this article, we will take a deeper look at the issue of parental leave in family policy. Reconciling family and career In recent decades, family patterns and the desires of mothers and fathers regarding the compatibility of family and work have changed significantly. The division of duties between the partners is increasingly beginning to take hold, so that the father contr ..read more

The labor market in Germany has been changing in recent times. More and more workers are moving away from the typical 9-5 job and into freelance work, which allows them more self-determination in their daily work life and, above all, is flexible. However, in order to enter the freelance market, it is good to know what the differences are between the different types of freelancers and what types of contracts you can enter into with business partners. Two different types of self-employed workers in Germany: Selbstständiger and Freiberufler. In Germany, it is necessary to distinguish the terms “s ..read more

In Germany, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS), through a funding program, is contributing significantly to strengthening independent social politics research. In fact, on 27 February 2023, the BMAS published a new call for funding for junior research groups of the Interdisciplinary Social Politics Research Funding Network (FIS – Fördernetzwerks Interdisziplinäre Sozialpolitikforschung). For an informed socio-political discourse to exist, in fact, it is necessary to analyze changes in society and the world of work, observing their effects on the current social state and s ..read more

German citizenship is highly coveted because it guarantees many advantages; however, it is by no means easy to obtain. In fact, compared to the European average, Germany ranks rather low in the statistics. (Eurostat link). There are 10.7 million people with foreign citizenship in Germany, 5.7 million of whom have resided there for at least ten years and it is estimated that in 2021 only 2.45% of these were naturalised. Germany is considered to be open to immigration, and yet, beyond this façade, one can notice the numerous bureaucratic obstacles foreigners have to face. The Ampelkoalition and ..read more

The Hartz IV (or Arbeitslosengeld II) subsidy system will be replaced by the Bürgergeld as of January 2023. Since its election, the Ampelkoalition has been discussing and working on the draft of the Bürgergeld bill. In September 2021, Germany, as well as all of Europe, had to deal with the economic crisis following the Covid-19 pandemic, now exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. The soaring cost of living has made it necessary to reform the welfare system. But what are the most important differences? In this article, we try to clarify the various points that make Bürgergeld innovative compared to ..read more

On the 1st of November 2022, a job fair took place in Berlin during the Karrieretag (career day), an event where many companies come looking for new employees to fit into their workforce. We decided to participate as foreigners who, being far from home and feeling out of place, try to make their way into the German labour market. In this article, we would like to share our point of view on this matter with you. LUCA Walking around the stands, I got the impression that the event was entirely organized from Germans and thought for them. As a non-German speaker, I could not understand the informa ..read more

Wohngeld in a nutshell The Wohngeld Plus is a reform of the previous Wohngeld, a subsidy thought for those who struggle to bear housing costs. The skyrocketing cost of living and the crisis that looms large in Europe have brought families in a dead-end situation as they strive to make ends meet. As a consequence, the German government has enacted a reform of the welfare system aimed at providing more effective support from the state. As of today, only 600000 people have the right to it. The new reform should allow for a better a coverage as the criteria for inclusion are going to change; in fa ..read more