The protection of children and young people encompasses all measures, regulations and legal provisions that serve to protect young people from danger and harmful influences and to promote their development. The focus here is on protecting them from physical, mental and emotional dangers as well as safeguarding their rights.

The protection of children and young people is divided into two main areas.

Statutory child and youth protection protects children and young people from danger, impairment and harm through legislation. It is primarily aimed at adults, businesses and institutions. It monitors compliance with the Protection of Young Persons Act, which regulates the sale and consumption of alcohol and tobacco, the stay in restaurants and at dance events as well as the age rating of computer games and films.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, the local regulatory authorities are responsible for checking compliance with the Youth Protection Act.

In addition to this legally regulated protection concept, educational child and youth protection aims to enable young people to protect themselves from harmful influences and to teach them critical thinking, decision-making skills, personal responsibility and responsibility towards their fellow human beings. The aim is to develop services that empower, inform and enable young people to take responsibility and deal constructively with risks.

Educational child and youth protection is also intended to better enable parents and other guardians to protect children and young people from harmful influences and is therefore primarily aimed at educational activities.

In order to effectively implement the mission of educational child and youth protection, we work and cooperate with various stakeholders such as parents, educators, teachers, youth work specialists and youth social workers.

The topics and fields of action of educational child and youth protection are diverse and characterized by change. In principle, it is important to focus on the living environment of children and young people. The main areas of work in the educational protection of children and young people include

• Media - tablet, smartphone, internet, social networks, hate speech
• Addiction - alcohol, nicotine, gaming,
• Violence - (cyber)bullying, sexualized violence, physical violence, psychological violence
• Ideologies - right-wing extremism, Islamism, sects