SPD on families

The SPD wants to bring family centers, which so far exist mainly at daycare centers, to schools and make them possible at every elementary school. Family education, support and assistance programs would be offered in one place so that parents can more easily support their children's education.

Family centers are places with help and information for families. So far they are mostly at daycare centers. The SPD wants to set them up at elementary schools too. Parents would then find all services in one place.

According to the platform, support and assistance services are to be brought together in one place at elementary schools. This includes family education such as exchange formats, playgroups or family retreats, which is to be expanded and reliably funded. Providers of family education and the family centers are to work more closely together. The SPD also wants to keep helping municipalities build prevention chains so that youth services, schools and social services reach families early. School, all-day programs and family centers are to be treated as one unit.

The SPD wants to introduce a family working time model that lets parents cut their hours without losing income. It also plans leave for partners after a birth and supplementary childcare at off-peak hours. The goal is more time together and a more equal sharing of care work.

Parents should be able to work less. They should not lose money when they do. After a birth, the partner should also get time off. There should be extra childcare early in the morning and late in the evening.

The family working time model is mainly meant to help parents share care work as partners. For the period right after birth, the platform provides for partner leave so the family can bond. Childcare at off-peak hours is to take place in the home setting. As a model, the platform cites the supplementary childcare offered by the association of single mothers and fathers in Essen, which the SPD says lowers single parents' risk of poverty. For the SPD, a family is any constellation in which children live.

The SPD wants to create family offices that take paperwork such as the Elterngeld (parental allowance) application off new parents' hands in the first weeks after birth. Later on, they would also help families apply for benefits and find suitable services.

After a birth, parents have to fill out many forms. The SPD wants to set up family offices. These offices help with the forms, for example for parental allowance. They also help families later on.

The family offices are meant to reduce the administrative burden in the first weeks after a birth. They handle applications during that time and continue to help families with benefits and suitable services afterward. The offices can be attached to the family centers that are to be newly created at schools. The aim is for families to have more time for their own needs.

The SPD wants to expand daycare according to need and create a suitable childcare option for every child. Daycare is to become entirely free of charge so that, in the party's view, education does not depend on income or place of residence.

The SPD wants to create more daycare places. Every child should get a suitable place. Parents should no longer pay for daycare. Money should not matter when parents decide on daycare.

The platform criticizes the previous state government for most recently creating only 3,349 new places for children under three. Children are to be admitted during the daycare year as well, timed to the end of parental allowance or parental leave. Parents' right to choose is to be preserved, which is why the diversity of providers is to be strengthened. The SPD wants to stay in dialogue with providers and municipalities on this. Parents should not have to think about cost first when deciding on a daycare place.

The SPD wants to reorganize daycare funding through a Kita-Zukunftsgesetz (daycare future act). Instead of lump sums based on occupancy and booked hours, centers would receive stable base funding and more staff per group. This is meant to cut red tape and free up more time for the children.

The SPD wants a new law for daycare centers. Centers should get a fixed base amount of money. They should have less paperwork to do. There should be more staff for the children.

The staffing ratio is to be based on actual opening hours. Centers with many children who need special support are to receive extra funds; for this, the social index is to be developed further and the plusKita approach continued. For childcare professions, the SPD plans more career paths through specialist posts, for example for language support or child protection, and an expansion of practice-oriented training. Daycare assistants and daycare administrators are to relieve educators and managers of non-teaching tasks. Early intervention centers are also to be expanded.

The SPD wants to organize child protection uniformly across North Rhine-Westphalia. Youth welfare offices are to have the same resources everywhere, and cooperation between agencies is to follow uniform rules. A child protection act would keep developing this further.

The SPD wants to protect children better. All youth welfare offices in the state should be equally well equipped. Agencies should work together under the same rules. A child protection law should set this out.

Child protection is to become a fixed part of training and continuing education in the relevant professions. The SPD sees it as a task for society as a whole, not just for youth services. Protection plans in facilities and educational institutions are to be developed together with the children and young people.