moving to germany with disabled child

[ariel]

We are planning on moving to germany with our 3 children. Our son is 2 years old and has down syndrome. We dont speak german so we need help with finding information. What help is there for children with down syndrome? I currently dont work. I get paid care allowance for my son. Is there any care allowance in germany for parents with disabled children? If so how much is it. Where and how do I apply for it?
What about therapy for him, how does that work and how much do you pay for all of his therapies?
Do I pay extra for his daycare because he's disabled? He needs help with basically everything.he does not walk, talk or eat by himself yet.

[Volker]

AW: moving to germany with disabled child

Dear Ariel,
you are welcome to be part of the INTAKT-Community.
To communicate with the other members, I recommend you to switch to german language or to look for a translator.
Thank you very much.
I wish you all the best for your challange!
kind regards
Volker

Liebe(r) Ariel,
herzlich Willkommen im INTAKT-Forum.
Um mit den anderen Mitgliedern (hier) zu kommunizieren, empfehle ich dir die deutsche Sprache zu verwenden oder einen Übersetzer/Translator zu verwenden.
Vielen Dank.
Ich wünschr euch alles Gute für eure Herausforderung!

Freundliche Grüße
Volker

[Koana]

AW: moving to germany with disabled child

Volker, erlaube mir ihr auf Englisch zu antworten. Bin ja im Moment in einer aehnlichen Situation.

Ariel,
I just read your post about moving to Germany. We are also moving there with our disabled daughter but we actually do speak German. There are several things that you will be eligible to have once you live there but my question is, how do you plan on getting all of the burocratic things done if you don't speak German? It will be really hard if you don't speak the language. Will your husband be working?

If your husband will be working he will get an insurance and can insure the family under him. That insurance will be deducted from his monthly pay. The insurance usually covers most of the things that your children will need, as well as all the therapies for the disabled child.

Then there is a "disabled pass" called Schwerbehindertenausweis that you will have to request upon receiving a diagnosis from a medical doctor. You will be eligible for Kindergeld, which is given to everyone who has children. It's about 157 EUR per child a month. Furthermore there is something called "caring money" which is Pflegegeld, that will be given to the main caretaker of your son, in this case you. They will assess how much help he needs throughout the day and according to that the amount will be determined.

It's a LOT of burocratic dealings and I would really suggest you learn German (or your husband) in order to get around. Which country are you moving from?

Good luck and regards

Koana

[Sylv]

AW: moving to germany with disabled child

Hallo,

Ich könnte hier meine sprachliche Hilfe anbieten, wenn es gewünscht wird. Wir sind vor 8 Jahren aus England nach Deutschland gezogen. Mein Mann ist Engländer, ich selbst bin Deutsche und wir haben einen Sohn mit Asperger Syndrom.
Gern können mir die Admins dieser Seite eine PN schicken, denn ich bin ja ein sehr junges Mitglied hier und weiß nicht, ob das gewünscht wird.

LG Sylvia

Hi,

Perhaps I could help here language wise as we have moved to Germany eight years ago from England. My husband is british I am German myself and we have a son who suffers from Asperger Syndrome.
I have kindly asked the admins of this wonderful forum to contact me via a private message to establish if they do like me doing that or not.

Kind Regards,

Sylvia

[Sylv]

AW: moving to germany with disabled child

i Ariel,

I am not sure if you are still reading these replies to your post but welcome to this helpful forum. From which country you are planning to move to Germany?

Let me shortly tell you our story.
We are a family of five although two of our sons are already grown ups and moved out. Only the youngest is still with us and he was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome in the UK in 2006. We received disability living allowance in the UK and also carer allowance. Here in Germany there is something excisting called Pflegestufe which you need to apply for once you are living here. This is paid by the Pflegekasse. Let me explain. All citizen in Germany are obliged to get member in a health insurance there are various excisting, and this could get a headache for you to chose one. These health insurances also have Pflegekasse, something like a carer insurance.

When we moved to Germany in 2007 we were unable to get disability allowance (Pflegestufe) for our son because we had to prove that we were insured at least five years with a carer insurance (Pflegekasse) beforehand and they did not accept a lot.

Finally we got disability allowance in 2009 and it was backdated to the date we applied for it.

Where therapies are concerned you probably need to see a special doctor but I am not familiar with down syndrome but could find it out. Or you would look for a GP who can refer you to one here that is possible too. As long as you are member in a health insurance which normally happens automatically when one of you is working then you should not need to pay for therapies but again I do not know this for certain but the doctors should be able to advise.

I hope I could help a bit.

Kind Regards,

Sylvia