A guardianship can be established by law or by the local court.

Guardianship is not a public "service" in the narrower sense.

The inclusion of guardianship in Social Code VIII as an "other task" obliges the competent authorities to provide staff for the management of guardianships.

The management of a guardianship itself can be assigned to a specific person, an association or a youth welfare office. The local court decides to whom the guardianship is assigned.

The local youth welfare office "automatically" becomes the guardian when a minor unmarried mother has a child. This guardianship ends as soon as the mother comes of age. The "automatic" guardianship does not apply if the child's father is of legal age, paternity has been established before the birth and the parents have made a declaration of joint parental custody.

The actual management of a guardianship takes place within the framework of private law. The guardians largely perform the tasks that would have to be carried out by the parents without this guardianship. The actual care of the child is usually handed over to other persons and/or agencies. A guardian represents the person over whom the guardianship is held in all matters (in which they cannot make decisions themselves).

Examples

• Opening a savings account
• Permission for an operation
• Change of school
• Determining the place of residence

If guardianship is carried out by a youth welfare office, this is called "official guardianship". A person employed by the youth welfare office is appointed accordingly. This person is responsible for the tasks associated with the guardianship.

There are more extensive provisions for the area of guardianship, which cannot be described in detail here due to their complexity.

Responsibility lies with the local court, the independent city, the district and the local authority belonging to the district.