SPD on families

The SPD names fighting child poverty as its top priority and wants lasting financial security for young people. Since Bremen cannot achieve this alone, it wants to press at the federal level for a swift and adequately funded Kindergrundsicherung (basic child allowance).

In Bremen, one in five children grows up poor. The SPD wants to change that. Bremen cannot do it alone. So the federal government should quickly bring in the Kindergrundsicherung. That is a new payment for children. It should be high enough.

According to the program, more than one in four people in Bremen is under 21, and one in five children lives in poverty. The Kindergrundsicherung is part of the federal coalition agreement. The SPD sees it as an effective and lasting tool against child poverty. The aim is lasting financial and material security for young people in the state.

The SPD wants to give youth welfare offices the staff and money they need and expand preventive support for families. Child protection is not to be cut back even when budgets are tight.

Youth welfare offices help children and families in need. The SPD wants to give them enough staff and money. Families should get help early. Children should stay with their family where possible. Bremen should not save money on protecting children.

Preventive services are meant to support families and avoid placing children in institutions where possible. The "Frühe Hilfen" (early help) coordination launched in 2022 is to link services at the neighborhood level and builds on the BRISE initiative. The modernization of youth welfare already under way is to continue. Residential and outpatient facilities are to receive adequate fees and prompt cost approvals. To protect children from violence, the SPD wants to review cooperation among daycare centers, schools, youth facilities, providers and case management on an ongoing basis and to achieve child-friendly courts and police.

The SPD wants to examine whether foster parents in Bremen can receive a benefit comparable to Elterngeld (parental allowance). At the federal level it is pressing for social insurance options for emergency foster care and possibly full-time foster care.

Foster parents take other people's children into their home. Often one parent stays home to do this. But foster parents get no parental allowance. The SPD wants to check whether Bremen can pay them something similar. They should also have better insurance.

According to the program, more than 40 percent of children in full-time foster care were under three when placed. Foster parents then often pause their jobs but, unlike birth parents, are not entitled to Elterngeld. The SPD cites the Hannover region as a model for such a payment. Foster families are to be considered more often where this suits the child, especially for small children.

The SPD wants to continue and expand the "Freikarte" for leisure activities if it is well used. The youth ticket for public transit is to be funded permanently, and support against the effects of the pandemic on children is to be reviewed and partly continued.

Children and teens in Bremen have a free card for leisure activities. The SPD wants to keep it if many use it. The youth ticket for buses and trains should stay too. Children suffered during Covid. Good support for them should continue.

The Freikarte lets everyone under 18 use leisure offers in both cities regardless of family income. The youth ticket for local transit has existed since summer 2022, and its funding is to be made a fixed part of future budgets. The SPD wants to check which offers from the federal "Aufholen nach Corona" program and the state's "Stark im Sozialraum" program must remain beyond the pandemic. Disadvantaged neighborhoods and young people from families with a migration background are to be the focus. The party says the federal government remains responsible for supporting states and municipalities.

The SPD wants to fund counseling and meeting places for single-parent families on a lasting basis and close gaps. Support is to aim more at stabilizing people's lives over the longer term rather than only at quick job placement.

Many mothers and fathers in Bremen live alone with their children. There are counseling services and meeting places for them. The SPD wants to pay for these reliably. Where something is missing, new services should be added. Everyone should know where to find help.

According to the program, about 17,000 single-parent families with children under 18 live in the state. It names the "Häuser der Familie" (family houses), mothers' centers, the association VaMV, the "paula+" project and neighborhood centers. The goals are permanent projects and a clearer overview of the social and medical support system. Issues such as housing, child support, school diplomas and part-time training are to be supported over a longer period. Work on the "Aktionsplan Alleinerziehende" (single parents action plan) is to resume with high priority, and the SPD wants to identify gaps in financial aid and push for improvements in federal law.

The SPD wants to launch a pilot project giving single parents, and possibly older people, vouchers for household services. It is meant to ease everyday life and at the same time promote employment in this field.

Single parents have a lot to manage every day. The SPD wants to give them vouchers for help at home. Older people may get such vouchers too. For now this is a trial. It should also create new jobs.

The project is aimed mainly at single-parent families who need support in the short or medium term. It is also meant to promote jobs in household services. The pilot is to be paid for with money from the Federal Employment Agency.

The SPD wants to make it easier for single parents to get childcare and to tailor labor market policy to them. This includes more part-time vocational training, a qualification drive and special offers for immigrant single mothers.

Single parents need a childcare spot. The SPD wants to help them find one. There should be more spots, also early and late in the day. Single parents should find it easier to do part-time job training. Immigrant mothers should get special help.

The program calls for a major expansion of childcare places, including at off-peak hours, and a clearer overview of low-cost and free vacation care. All residential homes and refugee shelters are to offer childcare for at least a few hours. According to the program, the employment rate in single-parent families in Bremen is nearly 64 percent, below the national average of 76.2 percent. Of about 3,500 unemployed people from such families, 74 percent have no vocational qualification. The "Beschäftigung im Quartier" program is to include dedicated offers that respect childcare hours, and an existing job placement project is to be evaluated and extended if needed.

The SPD wants to better inform parents with physical or intellectual disabilities or psychiatric illnesses about their rights. According to the platform, the legally established parental assistance is often not put into practice.

Some parents have a disability or a mental illness. They have a right to help with raising their children. This help is called parental assistance. Many parents do not get it. The SPD wants to tell parents more about their rights.

The platform stresses that these parents are entitled to support in raising and caring for their children. Parental assistance is laid down in Book IX of the Social Code (SGB IX). Because the SPD says it is frequently not provided in practice, the party wants to improve information for those affected.

The SPD wants to keep expanding childcare places, including at early and late hours, because it sees this as the key to equality for women in the labor market. The public sector is to lead the way on balancing work and private life.

The SPD wants more childcare places. Care should also be open early in the morning and late in the day. This lets more women work. Public offices should become very family-friendly.

All senate departments, municipal enterprises and majority-owned companies are to be audited as family-friendly employers. Drawing on the University of Bremen's initiative "Carat – caring all together," the SPD wants to create role models for a fair distribution and payment of work, training and care duties. For single parents, the state strategy calls for more and more flexible childcare, combined with raising the standing of the childcare profession.

The SPD wants more playgrounds, exercise areas, and meeting places for young people in every neighborhood, all free to use. No child should be disadvantaged in leisure options because of where they live or their parents' income. Young people are to help shape these spaces.

Children and teens need places to play and meet. The SPD wants more such places in all neighborhoods. Using them should cost nothing. Young people should have a say in the planning.

New sites are to be identified together with the local advisory councils and youth councils. Outdoor areas at schools and daycare centers are to be checked for possible public use in the afternoon, and existing playgrounds and soccer pitches will continue to be renovated. Young people are to be involved through planning workshops. For new or redesigned playgrounds, multigenerational concepts, accessibility, drinking water, restrooms, and small stages are to be considered.

The SPD wants to continue open youth work and fund it noticeably better. Every district is to receive a base amount, with additional money allocated according to local need. Facilities for girls are to be secured and grant procedures simplified.

The SPD wants more money for open youth work. Every district should get at least 100,000 euros. Districts with more problems should get more. Girls' centers should also be able to keep working safely.

The base amount is to be at least 100,000 euros per district initially; extra funds will be distributed by indicators still to be defined, and new residential areas are to get money early for their own structures. Publicly funded recognition internships for social workers are to be expanded, and citywide offerings funded permanently. Girls' centers are to be able to secure and expand their programs as needed. Funding periods are to be aligned with the two-year budgets, fixed-amount financing examined, and procedures streamlined and standardized.