On 12 August 2026, the Federal Cabinet approved the draft of the „First Act on Structural Reform of Child and Youth Welfare“. The aim is to make services for those affected more tailored to their needs and more easily accessible, to reduce bureaucracy and to prevent costs from spiralling out of control in local authorities. 

This first stage of structural reform provides for the following:

• Children and young people who need support should have access to easily accessible educational support in nurseries and schools. Youth welfare services, nurseries and schools plan these services together.
• Responsibilities for support services are to be streamlined, and a central point of contact within local authorities for affected families may also be established. Procedures for the reception and allocation of foreign minors are to be streamlined.
• Local infrastructure such as family centres, parenting courses, advice centres and family holiday schemes should be significantly strengthened. Families in need of support should first make use of easily accessible services before any educational support is put in place.
• Young people should be given better support with their education and integration into the labour market, for example through accommodation with socio-educational support, where this facilitates their participation in educational programmes or their integration into the labour market.
• Staff should be deployed more flexibly in order to ease the burden on organisations in the face of staff shortages: the more demanding the task in question, the higher the standards required of the staff deployed.
• The exemption in the Youth Protection Act relating to so-called „supervised drinking“ is to be abolished. 14- and 15-year-olds will not be permitted to purchase or consume beer, wine or sparkling wine in public, even if accompanied by an adult.