AI in Children and Families Services

Situation

Social work increasingly faces growing demands alongside constrained resources. In particular, the field of children and families welfare is burdened by rising caseloads, complex service user needs, and a shortage of qualified professionals, all of which place significant pressure on practice. Concurrently, the digital transformation offers promising opportunities to alleviate workloads and improve the quality of professional decision-making. Technologies based on AI are gaining prominence within this context. While AI systems have been adopted in sectors such as healthcare and justice, their application within social work remains largely underexplored. There is a notable lack of systematic engagement with AI, limited awareness of existing technological tools, and insufficient critical discourse regarding their potential benefits, limitations, and ethical considerations. In sensitive domains like children and families services, a professional, cautious, and reflective approach to emerging technologies is imperative. This project seeks to address this gap by presenting existing AI applications and, in collaboration with professionals from children and families services in Baden-Württemberg, critically assessing their relevance, practical applicability, and constraints. The dialogue encompasses professional standards, ethical principles, and data protection frameworks to ensure a responsible, context-sensitive integration of AI within social work practice.