SPD on families

The SPD wants to develop an app where families can find all government benefits in one place and access them more easily. In addition, family education centers, family centers and early support for parents of young children are to be strengthened.

The SPD wants to make an app for families. Families can find all government help there. Children can also see leisure offers there. Family centers should also get more support.

Cultural and sports facilities would also be able to offer digital vouchers in the app, so children can see their leisure options at a glance. The SPD wants to keep funding the state's more than 30 family education centers and over 100 family centers and expand them as needed. Early support services are to be improved, with offers already for parents of infants and toddlers. The platform justifies this with the goal that a child's background should not decide their path in life.

The SPD wants to support youth associations, coordinate open child and youth work statewide and give targeted help to disadvantaged children. No child should be shut out of activities for lack of money. It also wants to tackle child and youth poverty.

The SPD wants to support youth groups. No child should be left out because of money. Poor children should get more help. Young refugees should also be able to join youth work.

Youth associations are to receive tailored help to cope with effects of the pandemic such as the loss of members and volunteers. The SPD wants to provide money for projects that bring young refugees into youth work. Residential youth welfare facilities are to be better equipped, and a new statewide framework agreement with providers is meant to give municipalities guidance. The platform counts youth-friendly public transit, fast internet everywhere and youth work close to home as part of equal opportunity. Targeted health promotion measures are to be derived from school entry health checks.

The SPD wants to develop a statewide prevention program to protect children and young people from every form of violence. Child protection centers and girls' shelters are to be adequately funded, and child protection in rural areas is to be strengthened.

The SPD wants to protect children better from violence. It plans a program for the whole state. Child protection centers and girls' shelters should get enough money. Protection should also get better in rural areas.

The program is to cover areas such as family, school, daycare, sports, disability, open youth work and youth welfare. It is meant to promote protection plans wherever professionals or volunteers work with young people and to expand local networking among those involved. Conversations about one's own body and about consent are to take place as early as daycare and elementary school. Children and parents with disabilities are to get their own counseling and support services. The SPD bases the plan in part on experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SPD wants to eliminate parental fees for daycare centers, nurseries and home-based childcare by 2027. It argues that fees keep even middle-income families from using childcare.

The SPD wants daycare to be free for parents. This also covers nurseries and childminders. It should happen by 2027. The SPD says the fees are unfair.

The platform notes that Schleswig-Holstein is the only northern German state that still charges daycare fees. The SPD considers these fees socially unjust because they are a barrier even for middle-income families. Free care is to apply by 2027 to daycare centers, nurseries and home-based childcare. The SPD also criticizes the current state government's daycare reform for failing to relieve parents, municipalities and staff.

The SPD wants to tackle staff shortages in daycare with paid, practice-oriented training and easier entry for career changers. It also wants to strengthen home-based childminders and use more mixed professional teams in daycare centers.

Daycare centers lack staff. The SPD wants to pay people during training. Changing from another job should be easier. Childminders should get more support too.

Training for social-pedagogical assistants is to become practice-oriented and include pay. Experienced assistants should be able to take paid further training to become full educators. Career changers should find training places more easily across the state. Childminders are to get better continuing education. To raise quality, the SPD wants teams of social pedagogues, special-needs educators and assistants, and plans to develop a concept for inclusive daycare with providers.

The SPD wants to create more childcare places for children under and over three and provide extra state investment funds for this. Care hours should fit parents' working lives better, and daycare centers in disadvantaged areas should get special support.

There are too few daycare places. The SPD wants to create new ones. The state should pay more for this. Daycare centers should be open longer. Centers in poor areas should get extra help.

According to the platform, demand for places is growing faster than supply. The SPD wants to agree on an expansion drive with municipalities and providers, with accessibility as a quality criterion. Money is also to go toward longer care hours, and care early in the morning or late in the afternoon is to be better paid. For daycare centers in disadvantaged neighborhoods, a framework modeled on the Perspektivschulen program is planned, with funds for language support, health, nutrition and sports. The SPD also backs non-discriminatory, gender-sensitive learning materials and related staff training.