Grüne on families

The Greens want to give proven projects in open youth work and youth associations a permanent footing. These services should be open to all young people without discrimination or barriers, because the party regards youth work as a necessary rather than an optional service.

Youth clubs and youth groups matter for young people. The Greens want to pay for good projects on a lasting basis. All children and young people should be able to join in. This includes children with disabilities. The state should provide money for this.

Municipalities would be supported in offering child and youth work to everyone without discrimination. The state's child and youth funding plan would be made inclusive. The party wants to provide the funds needed for barrier-free services. The platform names democracy, anti-racism, gender equality, peace and human rights as core themes of youth work.

The Greens want to help more daycare centers become family centers and to turn primary schools into points of contact for families as well. Parents should find exchange, advice and easily accessible help there, including after the daycare years.

A family center is a place where parents get advice and help. The Greens want more daycare centers to become family centers. Primary schools should become such places too. Advice services for families should be strengthened.

Becoming a family center should involve little bureaucracy for daycare centers and providers. The centers at daycare facilities and primary schools would link up with other institutions in the neighborhood to give comprehensive advice. To that end, the party wants to strengthen family education, family care and family counseling. Children, young people and parents should help shape family education.

The Greens want to fund municipal time offices that better match childcare hours, bus schedules and other routines to families' daily lives. They also plan a network of family-friendly companies and want public administration to become family-friendly.

Many families have too little time in daily life. The Greens want to fund time offices in towns. These offices check what childcare hours families need. Bus schedules should also fit better. Companies and public offices should become more family-friendly.

The time offices would coordinate the needs of residents, businesses, public transit, schools, daycare centers and service providers. The planned network "Familienfreundliches Unternehmen@NRW" (family-friendly company) would bring together firms, researchers, associations and policymakers. Public administration is meant to set an example. Family education and counseling would give more support to families during and after a separation, including on how care work is shared.

The Greens want to expand childcare in the early morning and evening and make emergency care available. Single parents would also get one-stop help with official paperwork and access to rest and recovery programs, since the platform says they depend especially on reliable infrastructure.

Some parents raise their children alone. The Greens want to help them more. There should be more childcare early in the morning and in the evening. In an emergency, someone should look after the siblings. Advice centers should help with paperwork.

Funding would also go to projects that care for children at home during off-peak hours. If a child has to go to the hospital, emergency care for siblings should be possible. Municipal family counseling offices and independent providers that help single parents quickly would receive funding. The party also wants to fund recreation and health programs for single parents.

The Greens want a state initiative to create more safe outdoor play spaces, arguing that children need exercise and fresh air. Municipalities would be able to preserve play areas and make them accessible.

Children need space to play outside. The Greens want to give towns money for this. Playgrounds should stay and become barrier-free. Children should have a say in the planning.

The funding program targets existing playgrounds, parks, ball courts and skate parks, which would be made usable for children with and without impairments. Municipalities should be able to plan building projects so that open spaces for play are kept and improved. One condition is that children and teenagers have substantial influence on the planning and are involved no less than clubs or neighborhood initiatives.

The Greens want the same professional and staffing standards in youth welfare services statewide, and permanent local child protection networks. An independent state commissioner for child protection and children's rights would be created. The platform cites the failures uncovered by the parliamentary inquiry into the Lügde abuse case.

The Greens want to protect children better from violence. The same rules for youth welfare should apply everywhere in NRW. An independent person should look after child protection for the state. Police and courts should get better at dealing with children.

Youth welfare, courts, police, schools, and health services are to work together permanently in networks, with the state paying for their coordination in municipalities. Immediate support after sexual violence or other child endangerment is uncovered would be expanded. A council of survivors would be attached to the commissioner, whose tasks include examining past cases, for example in the church. Child-friendly procedures and questioning, and training in the courts and police, would be strengthened. Childhood Houses, where affected children and teenagers are supported under one roof, would also be strengthened.