The pressure on social programs is increasing. A study highlights the economic benefits of migration support services, but their future funding remains uncertain.
Budimka Balazi welcomes newcomers with open arms, offering support to those arriving in Germany. For Diletta Christodaro, the greeting is particularly warm – they have known each other for a long time.
Welcoming people is important to Balazi, as she herself fled the war in Croatia 30 years ago. “I know what it means to travel to the immigration office, what it means when the person opposite me is open to my concerns. That guides me in my work,” she says, sitting down with Diletta Christodaro at a round table in her office.
Pregnant and Destitute on the Street
Diletta Christodaro came to Stuttgart from Sicily in 2014 at the age of 18. “I wanted to create something for myself, so I said, okay, I’ll just fly to Germany, there’s work and many opportunities.” She didn’t even tell her parents about the plan. But she doesn’t identify work, and the money runs out quickly: she initially sleeps in hotels, then finds herself pregnant and destitute on the street. “Those are memories that are hard, and sometimes tears arrive to my eyes when I think about it,” she says in retrospect.
Diletta Christodaro has come a long way. After arriving in Stuttgart from Sicily, she was pregnant and destitute on the street. Now she has a good job and her own apartment.
During this time, Budimka Balazi from Caritas helped her a lot: she supported her in the search for a job, arranged a German course with childcare, and later told her about dual studies. The first question, the first concern, is often just an opener, says Balazi: “And when you realize, okay, there’s someone I can talk to, someone I trust, and feel: I’m in the right place right now, then I can open up and ask other questions.” She and the other advisors help with filling out forms or recognizing qualifications. It is very important to them that people become more independent step by step.
From Homelessness to a Good Job: a Success Story
Diletta Christodaro is now independent. She speaks fluent German, successfully applied for a job at the Italian consulate, and bought her own apartment. Her daughter has developed into a strong young woman. “Today I can say, I am very happy.”
Advisor Budimka Balazi wants to give something back – she herself fled the war in Croatia 30 years ago and received help at that time.
Success stories like Diletta Christodaro’s are good proof that migration counseling pays off – for migrants and society. This is what the advisors and the organizations providing the counseling, the welfare associations such as Caritas, Diakonie, Awo and the Red Cross, are convinced of. Migration counseling for adult immigrants is aimed at migrants, EU citizens and refugees who are allowed to stay in Germany. Help is offered with job searching, recognition of professional qualifications, German courses and filling out forms.
Migration Counseling Avoids €216 Million in Follow-up Costs Annually
Since February, the organizations providing the counseling have also had figures to prove this: they commissioned a study in Baden-Württemberg that analyzed, using examples from the counseling, what long-term problems could be avoided if advisors intervened early. The study names isolation due to a lack of language skills, over-indebtedness, as well as unemployment, homelessness, severe psychoses, taking children into care or imprisonment. The study authors then calculated how much money would have been spent on this. The result: For every euro invested in counseling, the public sector saves 25 euros in follow-up costs.
“If we extrapolate that to Baden-Württemberg and take into account the number of people seeking advice and the number of counseling centers,” adds Philipp Neurath, “then that’s €216 million in costs that we avoid in the first year of counseling.” The result surprised the associations, according to the chairman of the Migration Committee of the League of Free Welfare Organizations.
Migration Counseling Must Continue
Although migration counseling for adult immigrants has been around for more than 20 years, the funding for it still has to be applied for annually from the federal government. The federal government pays 90 percent of the costs, 10 percent are borne by the welfare associations, according to the plan. In reality, however, the welfare associations have to bear up to 30 percent of the costs – for example, because qualified and long-standing employees receive more pay, says Neurath.
Advisor Budimka Balazi also hopes that they can continue. “I think that is incredibly important to have a place where people can open up.”
More on the Topic
Beraterin Budimka Balazi will etwas zurückgeben – sie ist vor 30 Jahren selbst vor dem Krieg in Kroatien geflohen und hat damals Hilfe bekommen.
