CDU on families

The CDU wants a mandatory final year of daycare with special support for all children so they start elementary school with solid basics. That year is to be free of fees for parents; the party wants to work out funding with the federal government and municipalities.

All children should attend daycare in the last year before school. They get special support there. Parents should pay nothing for this year. The CDU also wants to recruit more skilled staff for daycare.

Children are to have basic language, math, motor and social-emotional skills. Daycare centers and elementary schools are to cooperate more closely and share information better. Daycare centers in difficult social settings will become child and family centers with higher funding. Money from the federal daycare quality act is to go into management time and recruiting staff; housekeeping and administrative workers are to relieve teaching teams. Pay for childminders is to be adjusted statewide to rising costs.

The CDU wants children to speak enough German before starting school and relies on binding support to get there. Early-detection health checkups are to become mandatory for all children, and state benefits are to depend on taking part.

Children should speak German well before first grade. Those who need help must accept it. All children must go to early health checkups. Otherwise families may get less money from the state.

Where a need for support becomes apparent, there are to be tailored and mandatory offers. The "SprachFit" program, language-focused daycare centers and language support overall are to be expanded. Children who are not yet ready for school are to attend a junior class. Newly arrived children without sufficient German start in preparatory classes. The partnership with parents is to be strengthened through the parents' foundation and a round table.

The CDU wants to push for the child tax allowance to move step by step toward the parents' basic allowance. In this way, joint taxation for spouses would become a family-based splitting model. Families with three or more children are to receive targeted support.

Families should pay less tax. The tax allowance for children should go up. It should move closer to the allowance for parents. Families with many children should get special help.

The program justifies support for large families by pointing to their contribution to society and the welfare state. Their particular needs in housing, social participation and mobility are to be taken into account. The changes to the allowance and to splitting concern federal tax law, and the CDU says it will advocate for them.

The CDU wants to set up child-poverty prevention networks in every city and county by 2030. Families are to get local support centers that guide them to services, plus a digital portal for family benefits.

The CDU wants to protect children from poverty. By 2030 there should be help networks everywhere in the state. Families should find advice centers nearby. They should be able to apply for family benefits online easily.

In the program's view, money alone does not solve families' problems; children need support and a chance to take part. The CDU wants to pay particular attention to single parents, who it says are often at risk of poverty despite working. The state program "STÄRKE" and the family support strategies will be developed further. Parents' authority over child-rearing is to be protected. Funding procedures for youth education and youth recreation are to become simpler and digital.

The CDU wants to broaden the state's child protection master plan and create uniform statewide standards for child and youth welfare services. Where a child's welfare is at risk, the state should be able to step in firmly, and IP addresses are to be stored for a limited time to prosecute serious crimes.

The CDU wants to protect children better. Youth welfare services should follow the same rules everywhere in the state. The state should be able to step in when a child is in danger. Internet addresses should be stored for a while. This should help police find offenders.

According to the program, prevention comes before intervention. Data protection is to take second place to protecting children. The CDU calls for strong powers to intervene, above all in cases of sexual abuse and child pornography. It points to the Cybercrime Center of Baden-Württemberg. Port numbers are to be stored for a limited time along with IP addresses.