Early help; information, advice and assistance

The care and upbringing of children and young people is the natural right of parents and their primary duty. The state community monitors their activities. Where necessary, parents should be supported in exercising their right and responsibility to bring up their children. This includes, in particular, information, advice and assistance. The core is the provision of the earliest possible, coordinated and multi-professional services with regard to the development of children, especially in the first years of life for mothers and fathers as well as pregnant women and expectant fathers.

Bavaria offers a wide range of services in this area.

• The central point of contact for assistance and support in stressful life situations is the Coordinating Child Protection Centers (KoKi Network Early Childhood) of the Bavarian youth welfare offices. They systematically bundle the regional early help services and develop the KoKi network in line with demand. The aim is to identify situations in which parents are overburdened and other risk factors for child development and child welfare at an early stage so that they can be addressed in good time with reliable and cross-institutional support and assistance services.
• In addition, around 180 parenting advice centers (including branch offices and external consultation hours) are available throughout Bavaria for qualified clarification and management of individual and family-related problems (e.g. parenting and development issues or family stress).
• You can find out more about early help services in Bavaria on the Internet (see "Further links").

Crying baby advice

It is completely normal for babies to cry. It is the only way they can express themselves and communicate their needs. It is important to first clarify whether medical causes are responsible for the baby's crying. If these can be ruled out, parents can seek advice from an advice center for parents of crying babies. Information on the individual advice centers can be found under "Further links".

If you need information, advice and help, contact the youth welfare office responsible for your place of residence (e.g. coordinating child protection center - KoKi - Netzwerk frühe Kindheit) or a parenting advice center.

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