Grüne on families

The Greens want to set a legal target that every playground gets inclusive play equipment. District sports facilities are to be modernized and their allocation made simpler.

All children should be able to play on playgrounds. This includes children with disabilities. The Greens want to write this into a law. Sports fields should get modern artificial turf.

Whenever equipment is replaced or a new playground is built, inclusion is to be taken into account. Children and young people are to be involved in designing playgrounds as a rule. Large playing fields are to be converted to ecological artificial turf so they can be used for more hours. According to the platform, this requires more groundskeepers in the district offices, and the growing needs of sports facility management are to be funded. Applying for and assigning time slots at district facilities is to become more transparent.

The Greens want to inform parents better about childcare and actively reach out to families who are distant from the education system. Social work in daycare centers would advise families and relieve staff. The goal is a childcare offer close to home for all parents.

Not all parents know what daycare centers offer. The Greens want better information, also in several languages. Experts should go to families. Daycare centers should have social workers. Every family should find a daycare center nearby.

Information on childcare from the earliest age would be reviewed and improved, with easy access through various media and attention to parents' differing language skills. Outreach education work would tackle inequalities early, especially in language development. Daycare social work models would offer social, parenting and family counseling for daycare parents.

The Greens want to gear the Kita-Gutschein (daycare voucher) system more to the child's needs. If parents' circumstances change, for instance through a new sibling or job loss, the voucher would stay unchanged for a year instead of four months as now. Single parents could apply for eight hours of care even without a job.

In Hamburg, parents get a voucher for daycare. If a parent loses a job, the voucher shrinks after 4 months today. The Greens want it to stay the same for one year. Single parents should always be able to get 8 hours of daycare.

The program names the birth of a sibling and a parent's reduced or lost work as triggers. The party justifies the longer period with the child's routine and planning certainty for daycare centers. It also wants greater use of the so-called Prio-10 voucher.

The Greens want to raise the free legal entitlement to childcare from five to six hours a day. Every child would receive the voucher at birth, valid until starting school. This is meant to improve educational opportunities, make part-time work possible for parents and cut red tape.

Today children have a right to 5 free hours of daycare a day. The Greens want 6 hours. Every child should get the voucher at birth. It is valid until school starts. Parents then need to fill out fewer forms.

According to the program, six hours is regarded as the minimum for holistic and inclusive education and care. The longer entitlement is meant to secure more educational offers, especially for disadvantaged children, and give parents an incentive to take jobs with social insurance rather than mini-jobs. The voucher system, more than twenty years old, would be fully evaluated and adjusted, and its administration simplified. A new application would only be needed if the family's situation changes.

The Greens want to advocate at the federal level for a Kindergrundsicherung (basic child allowance). The platform justifies this by saying about one in four children in Hamburg lives in poverty and background too often determines opportunity.

About one in four children in Hamburg is poor. So the Greens want a basic child allowance. That is money for children from the state. Offices should reach out to families on their own.

Authorities are to reorganize for this and proactively approach all families. The platform notes that children are often poor even though their families would be entitled to benefits. The party sees child poverty as a nationwide problem.

The Greens want to raise funding for open child and youth work and shift youth services funding from time-limited projects to long-term financing. This is meant to end insecure jobs and retain skilled staff.

Youth centers and play houses should get more money. So far the money often comes only for a short time. The Greens want it to flow permanently. That gives workers secure jobs.

Funding for open child and youth work is to rise enough to secure existing services and meet new needs; the funding system is to be reviewed and indexed. Funding periods are to follow the two-year budget, and projects that provide essential services or are backed by a legal entitlement are to receive regular funding. Independent providers and provider diversity are to be strengthened. A commission of administration, researchers, practitioners and politicians is to design a process with less bureaucracy and needs-based funding.

The Greens want to keep supporting young people who grew up in residential care or foster families after they turn 18. Further plans concern guardianships, parents with learning difficulties and people who suffered violence in care homes.

Some young people grow up in care homes or foster families. They should still get help as adults. Parents with intellectual disabilities should get another housing project. Victims of violence in care homes should receive recognition.

Care leavers, meaning young people who have left the care system, are to get free support, chances to connect with each other and suitable housing. Children and teenagers with a legal guardian are to receive qualified, reliable care. According to the platform, supported parenthood currently has one residence with places for eleven families; at least one more project is to be added. At the federal level, the party advocates recognition for people who suffered violence in residential institutions and wants to examine a compensation fund for Hamburg as well.

The Greens want to strengthen the protection of children against violence, neglect and exploitation. To that end, another child protection center is to be set up, agencies are to work together more closely, and youth welfare offices are to have enough staff.

The Greens want to protect children better from violence. There should be one more child protection center. Agencies, daycare centers and courts should work together more closely. Parents should get help with raising children. Youth welfare offices should have enough staff.

An additional child protection center is planned for the Hamburg-West/Wandsbek area, and child protection homes are to be adequately funded. Daycare centers, youth welfare offices, health and education institutions and the justice system are to cooperate along the lines of the Childhood House model, with cooperation and administrative costs covered as well. Against sexualized violence, the party plans a cross-agency action plan and will look into creating an independent commissioner. The "Frühe Hilfen" (early support) program and the office for protection concepts are to be funded permanently. Counseling centers, youth welfare offices and daycare centers are to get extra money for programs on non-violent parenting. Staffing at the youth welfare office and the general social service is to be secured through staff development and good working conditions.

The Greens want to set up an alliance for good education and reliable childcare. Daycare providers, parents, staff and unions would work out joint steps to address the shortage of skilled workers in daycare centers.

Hamburg's daycare centers do not have enough trained staff. The Greens want to form an alliance. Daycare providers, parents, staff and unions will talk there. Together they will look for solutions.

The platform says the staff shortage in daycare centers leads to understaffing, reduced hours and lower quality. In the Greens' view, only a package of measures can help. These are to be developed in the alliance through dialogue on equal terms with daycare providers, parent representatives, childcare workers and unions.

The Greens want to keep supporting the Childhood-Haus for children who are victims or witnesses in criminal proceedings. Protection against violence is to be strengthened in family court cases. The platform sees mothers' rights at risk from the influence of so-called “fathers' rights” activists.

Children are sometimes victims or witnesses in court. The Childhood-Haus exists for them. The Greens want to keep supporting it. Family courts should protect people better from violence.

Extensive training on children in criminal proceedings is to be offered. The Greens want to monitor whether “fathers' rights” activists in Hamburg influence family court proceedings, for example through training courses. According to the platform, the aim is to prevent one-sided influence on legal policy.