Federal Working Group for Child and Youth Protection

The Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Kinder- und Jugendschutz (BAJ) is a German registered association (eingetragener Verein) based in Berlin that serves as a national umbrella and coordination body for child and youth protection. Founded in 1951 as the "Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Aktion Jugendschutz," it brings together voluntary youth welfare organisations, the peak associations of the free welfare sector, specialist organisations, and the state-level working groups and agencies for child and youth protection, as well as interested individuals. Its work spans legal and educational child and youth protection: it informs professionals through publications and conferences, prepares topics for young people, parents, and teachers, and regularly alerts businesses to the regulations that protect children and adolescents. The BAJ is not a commercial enterprise in the conventional sense but a non-profit advocacy and knowledge organisation. It publishes the specialist journal Kinder- und Jugendschutz in Wissenschaft und Praxis (KJug), regularly issued dossiers that summarise topics with current figures, statistics, legal aspects, and educational recommendations, and the series MDA – Modelle Dokumente Analysen, which covers key themes and includes teaching materials. Its website offers online information and reference works for professionals, educators, parents, and teachers. Historically, the organisation emerged from the welfare associations' initiative in 1951 and grew into structured state-level associations between 1953 and 1956. In its early decades it pursued a morality-oriented approach to protecting youth, campaigning against "trash" media such as films and comics and later television, modern music, and dance events. From the 1960s this approach faced growing criticism, and under chairman Franz Fippinger from 1972 the organisation entered a phase of pluralisation and pedagogisation, shifting focus to social pressures such as performance pressure, unemployment, and environmental destruction. Today the BAJ addresses contemporary issues including child and youth protection in the digital world, generational justice, and media protection, and it engages with legislation such as the Jugendschutzgesetz (JuSchG) and the Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag (JMStV).

The Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Kinder- und Jugendschutz (BAJ) was founded in 1951 as the "Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Aktion Jugendschutz" by the German welfare associations. In the years that followed, various groups such as the Volkswartbund, abstinence movements, and morality associations joined. Between 1953 and 1956, structured associations of the Aktion Jugendschutz developed in all federal states. Supported by state subsidies, the Aktion sought to raise the morality of young people. Through specialised scientific lectures, educators, politicians, social and police officials were introduced to the problems of youth protection. From 1956 the journal Jugendschutz was published. Among the greatest dangers to morality were media such as films and comics, and from the 1960s increasingly television, as well as modern music and dance events. "Trash writings" were publicly burned on bonfires or buried in "pulp graves." By the mid-1960s this kind of youth protection came under increasing criticism; in 1964 and 1965 the political magazine Panorama devoted a series of reports to the topic. Walter Becker, the federal chairman of the Aktion Jugendschutz, was long able to avoid an internal discussion about the organisation's goals. Even in 1968/69 he explained the "unrest of youth" by claiming that youth protection had not been taken seriously enough in the past. In autumn 1971 he presented the model of "topical youth protection," which opposed every form of utopia. In 1972, the 66-year-old Becker handed over the chairmanship to the 40-year-old psychologist Franz Fippinger. A phase of pluralisation and pedagogisation began, accompanied by internal conflicts. Above all, municipal youth offices rejected the youth protection of earlier years. Performance pressure, unemployment, a lack of sincerity in the adult world, profit orientation, destruction of nature, and other problems of young people came to the fore. In the decades that followed, the BAJ evolved into a national umbrella and specialist body. It now brings together voluntary youth welfare organisations, the peak associations of the free welfare sector, specialist organisations, and state-level working groups and agencies for child and youth protection, as well as interested individuals. It publishes the specialist journal Kinder- und Jugendschutz in Wissenschaft und Praxis (KJug), regularly issued dossiers, and the MDA – Modelle Dokumente Analysen series, and it maintains online information and reference works. Its current work addresses topics such as child and youth protection in the digital world, generational justice, and media protection, and it engages with legislation including the Jugendschutzgesetz (JuSchG) and the Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag (JMStV).

• 1972

  Franz Fippinger succeeded Walter Becker as chairman; a phase of pluralisation and pedagogisation began.

• 1971

  Chairman Walter Becker presented the model of "topical youth protection."

• 1956

  The journal Jugendschutz began publication.

• 1953

  Beginning of the development of structured state-level associations of the Aktion Jugendschutz, completed by 1956.

• 1951

  Founded as "Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Aktion Jugendschutz" by the welfare associations.

National umbrella and specialist information body for child and youth protection in Germany, bridging welfare associations, state agencies, professionals, and the public.

• Kinder- und Jugendschutz in Wissenschaft und Praxis (KJug)

  Specialist journal aimed at professionals in public and voluntary child and youth welfare, students and teachers at universities, and political officeholders at state and federal level.

• Dossiers

  Regularly issued dossiers that summarise child and youth protection topics with current figures and statistics, legal aspects, and educational recommendations with references to study literature and contacts.

• MDA – Modelle Dokumente Analysen

  Publication series on key child and youth protection topics, including teaching materials, for professionals in child and youth welfare, educational assistance, and teachers at schools and universities.

• Online information and reference works

  Online information and reference works for professionals, interested persons, educators, parents, and teachers.

1. 1Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Kinder- und Jugendschutz (BAJ) | BAJbag-jugendschutz.de
2. 2Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Kinder- und Jugendschutz (Germany) – Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Kinder- und Jugendschutz – Wikipediade.wikipedia.org