New unrest in a particularly sensitive part of the city administration: Mayor Mike Schubert (SPD) has been deprived of sovereignty over the youth welfare office from the previous educational director for the important city hall department of education, sports and youth. According to PNN research, this was communicated to the members of the youth welfare committee on Thursday evening in the non-public part of the meeting. The exact background for the step, for example whether a problem had arisen in the area of child protection, initially remained unclear.
The city administration commented only briefly on request. City hall spokesman Markus Klier confirmed: “By order of the mayor, Mr. Robert Pfeiffer has been in charge of the youth welfare office since February 9.”
The director, Annegret Lauffer, was officially introduced in September 2021 and had previously worked in Berlin’s education administration. She was to lead the department together with Pfeiffer, who had moved to Potsdam from Rostock. However, she is said to have subsequently fallen out with her then head of department Noosha Aubel (independent) and was often absent due to illness. When asked whether the position had to be re-advertised, Klier said: “For reasons of personal data protection, no information can be given.”
The decision that has now been made by the top of the town hall and has already been communicated to the youth welfare office comes at a time when the superordinate youth department is also only provisionally managed by Brigitte Meier (SPD), head of the social affairs department, after Aubel left. According to PNN information, even the head of the town hall, Schubert, is personally helping out.
The situation in the youth welfare office has been critical for months. There is often talk of overload, especially in the child protection sector, which is intended to prevent possible threats to children’s welfare, or in family counseling. In her final interview at the end of January, Aubel also admitted that she only realized the extent of the overload in the youth welfare office too late. She should have sought more direct contact with the employees – instead of just having her superiors report to her. This is how information got lost, according to her self-criticism.
The city councilors had already decided on new positions to counter the overload, but Aubel had also dampened hope that these could be filled so quickly. On request, city spokesman Klier said: For the area of regional child and youth welfare, four new employees in the general social service and two for the crisis service have been hired since summer 2022. But also: “Five colleagues have left the department.” Regarding the question of the ability to work in the area of child protection, Klier said: “The department continues to carry out its tasks.”
For Aubel’s successor, the final phase will begin next week, in which the groups will be presented with the anonymous profiles of the previous favorites. As reported, there were around 80 applications for the job – in view of the currently male-dominated city leaders, a woman is expected again. This would then have to choose the city councillors, according to PNN information, possibly at a special meeting in March. The local politicians then have to vote in a secret ballot – in the past such elections had sometimes turned out to be very close or had even failed in individual cases.
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