Apply for registration as a professional counselor

If you wish to work professionally as a caregiver, you must first register successfully. You must apply for registration at your local care authority. A registration procedure will check whether you are suitable for this activity. Your personal suitability and professional aptitude will be checked.

If you are successfully registered, you can be nominated as a guardian by the guardianship authority and appointed by the guardianship courts.

Provisional registration:

Applicants who meet the requirements for registration may be provisionally registered by the competent parent authority if they can provide partial proof of the required expertise and are only unable to provide full proof of expertise because the necessary study, training or further training courses are not yet available.

With provisional registration, applicants become professional supervisors.

Provisional registration ends no later than June 30, 2025.

Requirements

• Personal suitability and reliability.
• Sufficient expertise to work as a professional caregiver.
  
  • Must be proven by appropriate documentation.
  • If you are qualified to be a judge or have a degree in social work or social pedagogy, no further proof of expertise is required.
• Professional liability insurance for financial losses that may arise from your professional activity.
  
  • Minimum sum insured of 250,000 euros for each insured event.
  • 1 million euros for all insured events in an insurance year.
  • Notification of change by the insurance company.

What documents do I need?

• The completed and signed application form
• Certificate of good conduct according to § 30 paragraph 5 of the Federal Central Register Act
  
  • Not older than 3 months.
  • The certificate is sent directly to the parent authority by the Federal Office of Justice.
  • You can find the link to apply for a certificate of good conduct from the Federal Office of Justice under "Further information" - "Information and application for a certificate of good conduct from the Federal Office of Justice".
    
    • Please specify the following recipient:
      
      • Office for Social Services Bremen Head Office
        Hans-Böckler-Straße 9
        28217 Bremen
• Information from the central debtor register
  
  • Not older than three months.
  • You can find the link to the enforcement portal under "Further information" - "Enforcement portal".
• Declaration of whether insolvency, investigation or criminal proceedings are pending in court
• Declaration as to whether registration as a professional supervisor has been refused, withdrawn or revoked in the last 3 years prior to application
• Appropriate evidence of the acquisition of the required expertise. These include:
  
  • Knowledge of care and accommodation law, the associated procedural law and in the areas of personal and property care
  • Knowledge of the support system under social law
  • Knowledge of communication with people with illnesses and disabilities and of methods to support decision-making
• Proof of expertise can be provided through studies, vocational training, further training with a final examination and recognized training courses. Certificates of employment cannot generally be taken into account
  
  • You can find a selection of relevant courses under "Further information" - "Overview of courses recognized under state law in accordance with the Supervisor Registration Ordinance".
• Notification of the intended overall time scope and organizational structure of the professional supervisor's activities