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The central question of this article is whether the Law for Children and Youth Aid (Kinder- und Jugendhilfegesetz KJHG) from 1991 is justly accused of being more a Law for Parent Aid than a law in keeping with the times which also does justice to the problems and needs of children. The article especially pursues the question whether the legislator of the KJHG considers the precarious balance of a conflict between parental rights and children's welfare as required by the constitution. Whether the child's welfare is endangered in an individual case and which strategies to limit further dangers are promising can often only be answered in an interdisciplinary manner; competencies from child psychologists and child psychiatrists should be utilized more extensively to determine problems and find decisions in youth care.

The introduction of the law about youth services has led to a coming closer of educational guidance services and the other institutions for youth services. This development is leading to a new discussion about the relationship between the educational services and the youth welfare office. There is a danger, by specific laws, the traditional working principles of educational guidance services, such as voluntary use and easy accessibility, might lose their importance. But only than can educational guidance be helpful for the other youth services if its principles of working remain valid. By examples of certain cases is shown, how cooperation might work between educational services and youth welfare department. The article tries to show a means of how to fulfil the demands of participation as required by the youth welfare law on the one hand and how to preserve the special institution of educational guidance on the other hand at the same time.

This article is a revised version of a short expert opinion of the Ministry of Work, Health and Social Matters of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (West Germany) dealing with the rules of expert skills in educational counselling. After the attempt of clarifying terms (consultation, therapy, medicine) the processes of consultation and treatment are described in general as influencing in a communicative way, whereby common qualitative characteristics are pointed out. The author also goes into taking ethical principles into consideration, possibilities of preventive effectiveness and consequences for education and further training of experts working in educational counselling facilities.