Diaconia Saxony's migration advice service has reached the limits of its capacity. "We have a constantly growing number of cases, but have not been able to adequately increase our staff," said Kerstin Böttger, Diakonie's advisor for asylum, refugees and migration. In the previous year, 3,928 consultations were carried out for adults alone, compared to 2,536 cases in 2019. In the same period, the number of youth migration services rose from 2,637 to 2,984.
"Since the war in Ukraine, we have had a lot of people from this country, especially women. But Syrians and Afghans are also frequent clients," reported Böttger. Refugees are just one group. In North Saxony, almost exclusively EU citizens are looked after. These are employees from Slovakia or Romania, for example, who work in the poultry industry. According to the information provided, those affected primarily seek support on topics such as language, work, training, housing, school and daycare.
According to Diakonie, the advisors are sometimes also exposed to hostility from the public and financial insecurity. "We need an increase in funding, but our allocations have been stagnating for years and we also have to compensate for pay rises," explained Böttger: "We can no longer cope with this."
