Social Welfare Office | Office for Social Services (AfSD)

The Social Services Office supports you in various life situations with expert advice and tailored services. We are here to help you with legal guardianship, social support for adults, housing issues, and family-related benefits such as parental allowance. Our goal is to provide guidance, find individual solutions, and reliably support you – so that you receive the assistance you need.

Guardianship authority

The guardianship authority within the Office for Social Services explains what is important regarding legal guardianship and advance directives. Some adults are unable to manage certain matters on their own due to illness or disability – for example, reading letters, handling money, or making doctor's appointments. The guardianship authority shows who can help. If guardianship is necessary, the court, in cooperation with the guardianship authority, finds a suitable person. The goal is to ensure that the person concerned can continue to make their own decisions about their life.

Guardianship Authority – Office for Social Services

Social Services Department

Anyone in the state of Bremen with such low incomes that they fall below the subsistence level is entitled to supplementary financial assistance for living expenses.

For those unable to work and in need of assistance, and their families – including elderly people – the Office for Social Services provides basic income support. The relevant legal regulations can be found in Book XII of the German Social Code.

For employable individuals in need of assistance, unemployment benefit II / social assistance (colloquially also known as "Hartz IV") provides basic income support. This benefit is the responsibility of the job centers. The relevant legal regulations can be found in the German Social Code, Book II (SGB II).

People who need help in special life situations can also contact us.

The Social Services Department includes the following areas:

• Financial assistance (outpatient and inpatient)
• Central Economic Aid
• Inpatient care
• Social services for adults

Our offers

General social assistance encompasses a wide range of benefits, including..

• Assistance for living expenses
• Basic income support for the elderly and those with permanent reduced earning capacity
• Education and participation
• Health aids
• Integration assistance for disabled people
• Assistance with outpatient care
• Assistance with inpatient care (nursing home costs)
• Assistance in overcoming particular social difficulties
• Blindness assistance
• Funeral costs
• State care allowance for blind and severely disabled people
• Benefits for asylum seekers

Central Housing Office

The Central Housing Advisory Center (ZFW), a joint advice center of various organizations and the Bremen Office for Social Services, provides free advice and information to all Bremen citizens if they are homeless; are acutely threatened with homelessness (rent arrears, eviction, etc.); or live in insecure and poor housing conditions.

For detailed information on the following services, please visit the service portal:

• Help for homelessness
• Help with poor and insecure housing conditions
• Assistance with lease terminations and eviction lawsuits
• Emergency accommodation / emergency shelters
• Support with rent arrears
• Support with finding accommodation
• Home modifications

Central Housing Unit – Office for Social Services

Parental allowance office

Welcome service for young families: the Bremen parental allowance digital

Your baby is here! Amazement, sleep deprivation, diaper changes, breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, cuddling, and getting to know each other. In these early days, as new parents, you're on duty around the clock, body, mind, and heart. How wonderful would it be if you could now fully concentrate on your new life together? And how does a complicated parental leave application and the trip to the authorities, including waiting times, sound right now?

We have good news for you: Use this valuable time for your family and submit your application easily and conveniently from home! Because in Bremen, it can all be done completely online.

Now it's easy: Apply for parental allowance online

Parental allowance / Digital parental allowance – Office for Social Services