CDU on families

The CDU wants to push in the Bundesrat for reversing the reform of Elterngeld (parental allowance), especially the lowered income ceiling. Self-employed people are also to be covered by Elterngeld as a rule. The stated aim is to ease financial and bureaucratic burdens on families.

The CDU wants to undo the changes to parental allowance. Parents with higher incomes should get it again. Self-employed people should get it too. Hamburg should push for this in the Bundesrat.

The reform lowered the income ceiling up to which parents receive Elterngeld; the CDU wants to undo that cut. Self-employed people are to be included as a rule in the future. The proposal is tied to the goal of making Hamburg a city for children and families, improving the balance of family and work, and orienting public authorities toward fewer burdens for families.

The CDU wants to improve the staff-to-child ratio in nurseries and give more support to childminders. To attract more skilled staff, training as a childcare worker is to be possible alongside a job and free of tuition everywhere.

The CDU wants more staff for small children in nurseries. Childminders should get more money and training. People should be able to train as childcare workers while working. The training should no longer cost tuition.

The platform points to the scientifically recommended ratio of one staff member per three nursery children, which it says Hamburg has not reached. Childminders are to receive better financial support and further training. The CDU wants to introduce a part-time training track for future childcare workers. Tuition is to be dropped at independently run schools as well, along with the fees for the external examination.

The CDU wants to keep and strengthen Hamburg's Kita-Gutschein-System (daycare voucher system). Payments to providers are to be reviewed scientifically and adjusted; a shared position for special-needs education is also planned.

In Hamburg, parents get a voucher for daycare. The CDU wants to keep this system. It wants experts to check whether daycare centers get enough money. Centers should also get help from special-needs educators. These are experts for children with disabilities.

In the platform's view, the voucher system introduced by the CDU has proven itself because it gives parents and providers freedom of choice. Payments are to take account of indirect educational work and staff absences and to rise automatically with collective wage increases. The quality of care is to remain subject to regular independent review, and the CDU wants to talk with providers about unannounced visits. The new special-needs education position is meant for centers that offer early support but do not need a full post of their own.

The CDU wants to extend free daycare hours in Hamburg beyond the current five hours over the longer term. The platform justifies this with financial relief for families and easier access to childcare.

Today, five hours of daycare per day are free. The CDU wants to make more hours free later. This should save families money. Children should get a place more easily.

Five hours of care per day are currently free of charge. The extension is framed as a longer-term goal. According to the platform, every euro counts for many families.

The CDU wants to work with providers to launch a website and app showing open daycare places and information about each center. This is meant to give families an overview and avoid multiple sign-ups on waiting lists.

The CDU wants an app for finding daycare places. The app shows open places and facts about each center. Parents then do not need to join many waiting lists. This saves them time.

The Kita-Finder is to show open places, contact details and short previews, ideally with photos. These include the educational approach, focus areas, number of places and special offerings such as language support, inclusion or nature education. Providers and childminders are to be enabled to supply the data quickly through paid release time and support for the childminding exchanges.

The CDU wants to give open child and youth services more money and multi-year funding they can plan with. Family centers, outreach support and the “Frühe Hilfen Hamburg” (early support) program are to be strengthened. The platform argues that such services help spot social problems early and strengthen child protection.

The CDU wants to give more money to youth clubs and similar services. The money should be secure for several years. Meeting places for families should also get stronger. Parents in hard situations should get help early.

As a route to reliable financing, the platform names multi-year institutional funding. Youth associations are to get support with civic education, media literacy, inclusion, youth participation and prevention of sexualized violence. Family centers and family education centers are to be reachable close to home and online, and outreach and neighborhood-based support will be expanded. Single parents and families with disabled children are to get special support. The CDU will also examine setting up youth centers for queer young people as safe spaces.

The CDU wants to spend more on maintaining and renewing public playgrounds and install more inclusive play equipment. Every district is to get at least one inclusive playground, and every neighborhood one with areas for young children.

Many playgrounds in Hamburg are in poor condition. The CDU wants to spend more money on playgrounds. There should be more equipment for children with disabilities. There should also be more toilets at playgrounds.

According to the platform, many of the roughly 750 public playgrounds are in poor condition, and areas for children under six and inclusive facilities are lacking. The number of public restrooms at playgrounds is to rise. Every neighborhood is to have at least one playground with equipment for children under three or under six. Developers' obligations to provide play equipment are to be pooled so that neighborhood playgrounds can be created.

The CDU wants to implement the recommendations of the commission of inquiry on child protection and go beyond them. Youth welfare offices are to be monitored continuously, the organization of youth welfare reviewed from the ground up, and the child and youth emergency service better resourced. The platform cites deaths in which, it says, state child protection failed.

The CDU wants to protect children better. Youth welfare offices should be checked regularly. The emergency service for children should get more money, staff and rooms. Foster parents should get more help.

Youth welfare offices are to be checked on an ongoing basis for compliance with rules and procedures, and shortcomings are to be handled openly. The platform sees the split of responsibility between the social affairs authority and the district youth welfare offices as problematic and wants to review the structure of public youth welfare. The child and youth emergency service, which the CDU considers overloaded, is to get more money, more specialist staff and more accommodation. Foster parents are to get better support to reverse the decline in foster placements.

The CDU wants Hamburg to once again provide its own places in secure residential care with an educational focus. In the platform's view, the city would thereby take responsibility for young people who need this kind of placement.

Some young people need a home they cannot freely leave. The CDU wants Hamburg to offer such places itself. The city should take care of these young people. Trained educators should work with them there.

The platform calls for sufficient capacity run by the city itself. The placements are to have an educational focus. The CDU frames this as a responsibility that Hamburg must take up again.