FICE Germany

Unfortunately our website is mainly written in German, but here you find some information in English.

The IGfH (Internationale Gesellschaft für erzieherische Hilfen) is the German national section of FICE (Fédération Internationale des Communautés Éducatives). The IGfH is a lobby for the rights and needs of young people in public care. We are not oriented towards parties, politics, nor religion. Our foundation is on of the biggest foundation in the area of child and youth care in Germany. We have about 1.900 members. Private persons, administrations, and educational institutions can apply for membership. The organizational approach of IGfH is to bring together various professionals in the field and to discuss issues regardless of status and institutional interests. Its intention is to find solutions and to initiate innovations in the field which are in the interest of children and youth.

The goals of the organization are:

• to bring conditions and needs of young people in public education into consideration,
• to accept the needs of children and their families without questioning them,
• to accepts various lifestyles and arrangements of individuals or groups and not to force them to one educational norm,
• to find flexible and various solutions for children's needs,
• to support family education without supporting it as the only accepted setting,
• to develop and support educative communities,
• to support democratic structures in the area of child and youth care,
• to support the network of professional social work and self_help groups.

The IGfH is a platform for professionals in the field. We organize seminars, conferences and educational trips, we publish books and a magazine (“Forum Erziehungshilfen“) and do political lobbying. There are different ways to get involved in our organization:

• Regional groups: These are groups of interested members who want to discuss regional specific issues with collegues
• Topic oriented groups: These groups meet twice a year and work constantly on issues in specific fields such as girls education, drug use and drug addiction, day care, ambulant services and so on. The groups organize seminars, publish articles and do lobbying for their specific field.
• Delegates: Members can be elected by the General Assembly. The meeting of the delegates decides on the activities of IGFH.
• Managing Committee: Members are elected by the delegates. They are responsible that the working programme is realized.

For more information please contact:

Internationale Gesellschaft für erzieherische Hilfen (IGfH)
Galvanistraße 30
D-60486 Frankfurt am Main
phone: +49-69-63 39 86-0
fax: +49-69-63 39 86-25
E-mail: igfh [at] igfh.de (igfh[at]igfh[dot]de)