CDU on families

The CDU wants to further improve child protection in Berlin. Youth clubs should have binding safeguarding plans, youth welfare offices should be better equipped, and doctors should be allowed to work together more closely when they suspect abuse. For the party, the child's welfare comes first.

The CDU wants to protect children better. Youth clubs should have fixed safety rules. Staff should be trained for this. Crimes should always be reported to the police. Doctors should be allowed to share concerns more easily.

Child protection teams in youth welfare offices are to be equipped with a vehicle and digital devices, and teams dealing with truancy and youth offending are to be anchored in law statewide. Youth clubs will be required to adopt safeguarding plans monitored by the youth offices, and crimes should be reported to the police immediately. An amendment to Berlin's law on medical chambers is meant to let doctors cooperate on suspected cases so that frequent changes of doctor do not hide abuse. Family court judges are to receive mandatory child protection training, violence protection clinics are to be strengthened and early family support services evaluated.

The CDU wants to introduce a 'Berliner Chancenpass' (Berlin opportunity pass) as an app that bundles benefits for children and makes them digitally accessible. In the party's view, benefits such as the education and participation package often go unused due to red tape and lack of information.

Poor children have a right to help. But many do not get it. The CDU wants a 'Berlin Opportunity Pass'. It is an app. Kids find local offers there, like sports or tutoring.

The app is to give families an overview of neighborhood offers and direct access to sports clubs, music schools or tutoring. The pass is also to be usable directly, for example as a swimming pool ticket. Advice on the education and participation package is to remain a permanent part of social infrastructure. The CDU also wants to support initiatives such as 'Armut eine Stimme geben' (giving poverty a voice).

The CDU plans a quality drive for daycare centers focused on language development and better-trained staff. It also wants more flexible and longer care hours, including 24-hour daycare for shift workers.

Daycare centers should get better. Children should learn language better there. Staff should get better training. There should be more daycare open at night. This helps people who work shifts.

The goal is enough reliable, high-quality childcare places for all ages, backed by solid funding. Company daycare, childminders, multi-professional teams and daycare social work are to be expanded. For workers in fire services, police, health care and similar jobs, 24-hour daycare and mobile care options are to grow. Digital tools should simplify administration and improve communication with parents.

The CDU places a focus on single parents. It wants to expand their support network, protect them from losing their homes, and offer free, flexible childcare and better career prospects.

The CDU wants to help single parents more. They should not lose their homes. There should be free childcare, also early and late. More public-sector jobs should allow working from home. The federal government should support them with more money.

Plans include better protection against losing housing and reliable help in acute crises. Flexible, free childcare, especially at off-peak hours, should help combine work and family. Family-friendly training, more remote work in the public sector and raising employer awareness are meant to improve job prospects. At the federal level, the CDU seeks higher tax relief, fairer treatment of Kindergeld (child benefit) in benefit calculations and better housing-allowance rules.

The CDU wants to further support foster families, building on a start-up bonus it already introduced and reduced red tape. It plans more psychosocial help and will push at the federal level for Elterngeld (parental allowance) for foster families.

Foster families take in children in hard situations. The CDU wants to keep helping them. There should be more easy-to-reach mental health help. Foster parents should also get parental allowance. The CDU will push for this at the federal level.

The program points to the existing "Startbonus Pflegekind" (foster child start-up bonus), extra support services and fewer bureaucratic hurdles. This course is to continue. Low-threshold psychosocial services are to grow, and at the federal level parental allowance should also cover foster families.

The CDU wants all family benefits to be accessible digitally through the Berlin family portal, including automatic applications. Family service offices and family centers are to be expanded and public offices made more family-friendly.

Families should apply for help easily. Everything should work through one website. It is the Berlin family portal. Child benefit and parental allowance should be applied for automatically. Families should get served faster at public offices.

Kindergeld (child benefit), Elterngeld (parental allowance) and daycare vouchers should be applied for automatically. Family centers are to be developed further at daycare centers and elementary schools. Family service offices should bundle all benefits so advice comes from a single source. Public offices should give families priority lanes, adjusted opening hours and play corners.

The CDU wants to expand and modernize youth centers, including their digital equipment. It sees them as places for meeting, orientation and prevention, and wants other public spaces to become more usable for young people.

Youth centers should grow and get modern. They should also have good computers and internet. Young people meet there. They get help there. Parks should get more outdoor workout equipment.

The program sees a need for reliable neighborhood hubs for children and teens in a growing city. Up-to-date digital equipment should bring youth work closer to young people's lives. Calisthenics facilities in parks are to be expanded and unused public spaces redesigned for young people.