AfD on families

The AfD wants to create a state child-rearing allowance (Landeserziehungsgeld): parents who care for their child at home during its second and third year would get 500 euros a month. The platform argues that daycare places are heavily subsidized while care at home is not.

The AfD wants a new payment for parents in Saarland. Parents would get 500 euros a month. In return, they care for their child at home in its second and third year. The AfD says parents should be free to choose.

According to the platform, each daycare place is subsidized with about 1,000 euros a month, while parents receive nothing for care at home. It says this pushes families into early outside care for financial reasons. The new payment is meant to let mothers and fathers do the child-rearing themselves in this phase. For families who do not want to use it, enough good daycare places should still be available.

The AfD calls for considerably more staff in public daycare. In the platform's view, the ratio of trained staff to children in Saarland falls far short of what experts consider necessary.

The AfD wants more staff in daycare centers. Then each staff member looks after fewer children. The children get more attention. The staff have less stress.

The platform cites doctors and psychologists who recommend one staff member per 2.5 children in nursery age and one per 7.5 for children over three. Because about 40 percent of working time is not spent directly with children, it says Saarland is far from that standard. More staff is meant to relieve employees. For children under three, secure attachment to a few fixed caregivers should be the focus.

The AfD wants to make work and family easier to combine and give families more time together. To that end, working life should become more flexible. In the platform's view, families today have to adapt too much to the demands of the economy, with women and children suffering most.

The AfD wants parents to combine work and family more easily. Work should become more flexible. More people should be able to work from home. Mothers should find it easier to return to their jobs.

As examples, the platform names more home office and telework as well as training that fits alongside family life. Returning to work after a family phase should get more support, especially for mothers. Flexible models for lifetime working hours are also included. In addition, daycare centers and schools should be kept as family-friendly infrastructure in rural areas too.

The AfD wants to ease the financial burden on families, including through family income splitting at the federal level and child allowances for social insurance contributions. The platform sees families as disadvantaged compared with childless people in taxation and pensions.

The AfD wants families to pay less in taxes and contributions. People with children should be better off at tax time. Raising children should count more for pensions. The school bus should also be free for the upper grades.

At the federal level, family splitting would be introduced, which calculates income tax based on the number of family members. Children would lower social insurance contributions through allowances, and child-rearing periods would count more toward pensions. A child allowance is planned for the real estate transfer tax. Free school transport would be extended to upper secondary students.

The AfD calls for stronger protection of children from abuse and counts abortion among this, alongside child sexual abuse and child marriage. Public money for facilities that perform abortions is to be eliminated. The party invokes Article 2 of the Basic Law.

The AfD wants to protect children better. It also means unborn children. Clinics that perform abortions should get no more money from the state. Pregnant women should get counseling and help. Schools should talk about protecting life.

In the platform's view, human life must be protected from conception to natural death. Besides legal rules, schools and state educational institutions should raise more awareness for the protection of life. Women in a pregnancy conflict should be encouraged through counseling and support to have the child. As an example of a facility whose funding should end, the platform names the Pro Familia center in Saarbrücken.