The research department F4 „Early Childhood Intervention” at the German Youth Institute (DJI) conducts research and development of practice related to the field of psychosocial burden in early childhood and support programmes, particularly Early Childhood Intervention (ECI). As a welfare state response to family risk constellations during early childhood ECI has been established as nationwide networks and support services, and aims to ensure that infants and toddlers can grow up in a healthy and non-violent environment from the very beginning. ECI addresses all families with infants and toddlers, but places a special focus on supporting families experiencing psychosocial burdens.
The National Centre for Early Prevention (NZFH), within which the research department F4 conducts research and practice-oriented projects, has been responsible since its establishment in 2007 for providing scientific support to ECI at the national, regional and local levels. It is operated by the Federal Institute of Public Health (BIÖG; formerly the Federal Centre for Health Education, BZgA) in cooperation with the DJI, and maintains an own official website (www.fruehehilfen.de). The NZFH and its projects are funded by the Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMBFSFJ).
The NZFH holds an intermediary position between established care systems (e. g., Child and Youth Welfare; Health Care) whose actions are sometimes motivated by a contrary logic. It therefore faces particular challenges: cooperation has to be established between different disciplines and professions, status groups and organizations while at the same time balancing the potentially conflicting priorities between general health promotion measures and child-raising on the one hand and child protection interventions on the other. Early childhood intervention is also a field in which cross-disciplinary care systems are being developed to address the complex needs of families. As a department within the DJI with its focus on childhood, youth (welfare), and family the research department contributes to the NZFH particularly through research on topics such as psychosocial burden among parents, parenting (stress), and the parent-child-relationship, as well as on ECI structures, professionals in the child and youth welfare system and the quality of child protection practice.
The aim of the research department's research and development programme is to achieve application-oriented progress as well as to promote reflexivity based on empirical research. To this end, all relevant stakeholders and levels of the area are examined: recipients or rather clients, professionals, institutions, municipal welfare systems, as well as as the sectoral policy governance and development on a federal and regional level. Furthermore, following a resolution by the federal state governments and the chancellor in 2008, the NZFH was commissioned to establish a separate area of research and development focusing on ‘Learning from errors’ as a central topic in child protection in the research department.
The work priorities of the research department F4 „Early Childhood Intervention” within the NZFH are organized into the following projects for the 2024 to 2026 funding phase:
As part of the NZFH, the DJI has regularly collected nationwide data on the structural development and expansion of early childhood intervention in Germany since 2012. These surveys, conducted at the local authority level across all child welfare agency districts, are a key element of the NZFH's indicator-based monitoring of the status of early childhood intervention in Germany. In 2025, the project conducted the seventh wave of local authority surveys, with future survey waves planned every three years.
The focus is on cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses adressing, among others, the following questions about ECI networks: How widespread are coordinating positions and what are their main tasks? Which services are offered to families and which other local support services are cooperating in the network? Which procedures exist for planning and quality assurance? What are the main sources of funding? How many professionals are working in early childhood intervention and what are their professional backgrounds? The results of the analyses of these questions are published by the NZFH on an ongoing basis.
Research from disciplines such as developmental psychology and public health has shown that experiences in early childhood are key to human development (Shonkoff/Garner 2012). From birth onward, children grow up under varying conditions, with differing resources and burdens that significantly shape their development. The COVID-19 pandemic has further impacted families with young children, often intensifying existing stressors (Racine u. a. 2022).
To better understand the living conditions in which young children grow up and their families’ use of support services, the representative study „Children in Germany – KiD 0–3 2022“ was conducted as part of the federal action program „Aufholen nach Corona für Kinder und Jugendliche“. The study, jointly carried out by the NZFH, DJI, and the NZFH, BIÖG, builds on its 2015 predecessor (Eickhorst u. a. 2015). To ensure coordinated data analysis and the timely, targeted dissemination of the results from the KiD 0–3 2022 study after 2023, the project – including an additional survey focusing on Ukraine – will continue until 2026 and expanded through the in-depth study KiD@home conducted in 2024. The results of these analyses are published by the NZFH on an ongoing basis.
In 2008, the Federal Chancellor and the heads of the federal states decided to strengthen the principle of „learning from mistakes“ as a central strategy for quality development in child protection. In consultation with federal and state authorities, the NZFH, was subsequently commissioned to establish a platform for the exchange of experiences regarding problematic child protection cases.
Within the project „Quality Development in Child Protection“ (formerly „Learning from Problematic Child Protection Cases“), the system-oriented method „Learning Together from Child Protection Cases“ was developed (Gerber/Lillig 2018) and has been used regularly in cooperation with youth welfare agencies for case analyses. Moreover, to promote the continuous exchange between federal and state authorities, child protection practice, and research, the project also established an annual expert workshop as a central platform for dialogue. In addition, the project conducts practice-oriented studies and translates scientific findings into recommendations, guidelines, or tools for use in child protection. For example, the project currently carries out a secondary analysis of interviews with professionals and families to gain knowledge about factors contributing to success (and failure) in working relationships in the mandatory context of child protection. The results of the analyses of these questions are published by the NZFH on an ongoing basis.
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