What do the parties say on families?

The AfD opposes writing separate children's rights into the Basic Law, Germany's constitution. It argues that children already hold all fundamental rights and that such a clause would let the state override parents' right to raise their children.

The AfD does not want special children's rights in the constitution. It says children already have all basic rights. It fears the state would interfere more in how parents raise children. Parents should decide on raising their children.

The AfD wants to refund parents €20,000 in pension contributions for every newborn child, or exempt them from future contributions of that amount. Their later pension would not be reduced. The platform justifies this as a fairer sharing of the burdens families carry.

Parents should get back 20,000 euros in pension payments for each child. Or they pay that much less later. Their pension should stay the same. The AfD says families carry many costs. This should make up for that.

The AfD wants to pay a caregiving salary to parents or grandparents who look after a child themselves during its first three years. It would be based on prior net pay and is meant to give families a free choice between care at home and care in a facility.

Parents should get money when they care for their small child themselves. This applies until the child turns three. Grandparents can get the money too. It should be about as high as the earlier wage. That way parents can choose freely.

The AfD wants to write a child-friendly society into the constitution as a state goal and aims for higher birth numbers. It speaks of a demographic turnaround that, in its view, stabilizes the social systems and secures the passing on of culture.

The AfD wants more children to be born in Germany. The constitution should say that society should be child-friendly. Campaigns should encourage couples to have children. The AfD says this also helps the social insurance funds.

The AfD wants to leave sections 218 ff. of the Criminal Code unchanged but apply them more strictly. Mandatory counseling should serve to protect unborn life, and pregnant women would be shown ultrasound images during it. Doctors should not be allowed to advertise abortions.

The AfD does not want to change the abortion law. But it wants to apply it more strictly. In counseling, women should see ultrasound pictures of the child. Doctors should not advertise abortions. Pregnant women and mothers should get more help.

The AfD wants to enforce German as the binding language in daycare centers and staff nurseries and daycare with enough qualified personnel. Content such as gender mainstreaming and diversity-oriented sex education, which it regards as indoctrination, is to be removed from childcare and from the training of childcare workers.

Everyone in daycare should have to speak German. This should help children from immigrant families. Daycare centers should have enough well-trained staff. Topics like gender should not come up there. Company kindergartens should get more support.

The AfD wants children to live alternately with their mother and father as a rule after a separation. Child support would depend on how much time each parent spends caring for the child. In the platform's view, current custody and support law hardens conflicts between parents.

Some parents split up. The AfD wants the children to live with the mother and the father in turns. A parent who cares for the child more should pay less child support. Before going to court, parents must first talk with a mediator. A mediator helps people settle a dispute.

The AfD wants the same nationwide standards for when youth welfare offices may remove children from their families. This should happen only if the child would suffer greater harm by staying. The platform points to wrong decisions and large differences between states and municipalities.

Sometimes the youth welfare office takes children out of their family. The AfD wants the same rules for this all over Germany. The office should do it only if the child would be worse off at home. The children should go to relatives if possible, for example to grandparents.

The BSW calls for a mandatory language test for children from age three. For those with gaps in German, daycare attendance would be compulsory and free. Daycare fees should stay stable or fall and be eliminated in the medium term.

The BSW wants a German test for children from age three. Children with too little German must then go to daycare. Parents pay nothing for that. Later, daycare should be free for everyone.

The BSW wants to offer all children in daycare centers and schools a free, healthy lunch. This is meant to ease the burden on families and make healthy eating independent of parents' income.

All children should get lunch at daycare and school. The food should be healthy and cost nothing. This helps families with little money. Children should also learn about food and nutrition.

The BSW wants the state to treat all children equally in financial terms. The relief from the child tax allowance should be no higher than Kindergeld (child benefit). According to the platform, family policy should focus on low and middle earners.

Parents get money from the state for their children. Rich parents often save more through taxes than others get in child benefit. The BSW wants to change that. Every child should be worth the same to the state.

The BSW wants enough daycare and all-day school places everywhere, plus free state-run childcare during school vacations. This is meant to make work and family easier to combine, especially for women and single parents.

The BSW wants more places in daycare and all-day schools. During school vacations, the state should look after children for free. Then parents can go to work more easily. This helps women and single parents most.

The CDU and the CSU want to keep parental leave and Elterngeld (parental allowance) and improve the allowance. In addition, childcare is to be expanded, counseling and early support strengthened, and all family benefits made accessible through one digital portal.

The CDU and the CSU want to make the parental allowance better. There should be more and better childcare. Families should get more advice and help. One website should show all benefits for families.

The CDU and the CSU want to ease the financial burden on families: the tax allowance for children should move toward the basic allowance for adults, and Kindergeld (child benefit) should rise accordingly. Ehegattensplitting (joint tax filing for married couples) is to stay because, in the parties' view, couples with unequal incomes would otherwise be disadvantaged.

The CDU and the CSU want families to keep more money. Parents should pay less tax for their children. The child benefit should go up. It should come automatically after a birth. The tax advantage for married couples should stay.

The CDU and the CSU do not want to change the existing rules on abortion. They regard them as a societal compromise between a woman's self-determination and the protection of unborn life.

The CDU and the CSU do not want to change the abortion rules. Section 218 of the criminal code should stay. The parties call the rules a compromise. It should protect women and unborn children.

The CDU and the CSU want to deny custody and contact rights to parents who are violent toward their partner. Acknowledging paternity only for show in order to obtain a residence right is to become a criminal offense.

The CDU and the CSU want to protect children better. A parent who is violent toward a partner should lose custody. Some men claim to be a father only for show. This gives someone a right to stay. That should become a crime.

The FDP wants to tie the full Elterngeld (parental allowance) to both parents taking at least four months each. Maternity protection is to be extended to the self-employed and to women after miscarriages, and childcare, care services and flexible working hours are to make family and work easier to combine.

The FDP wants to change parental allowance. Both parents should take at least four months. Then they get the full 14 months. Self-employed women should also be able to get maternity protection. The FDP wants to scrap the Working Hours Act.

The FDP calls for a new reproductive medicine law that permits egg donation and non-commercial surrogacy. Family law is to be adapted to diverse family forms, and shared parenting is to become the default model after separations.

The FDP wants to allow egg donation. Surrogacy without payment should also be possible. Unmarried couples should be allowed to adopt children. After a separation, both parents should care for the child.

The Free Voters want self-employed women to be financially covered during pregnancy and after birth as well. A mechanism is to be created in which the costs are shared collectively, as they are for employees. Women who run a business should not have to choose between their company and a family.

Employed women have maternity protection. Self-employed women do not have it today. The Free Voters want to change that. Everyone should share the costs, as is done for employees.

The Free Voters call for more affordable and flexible daycare places, including early and late hours. According to the platform, a lack of childcare keeps many women out of paid work and later leads to pension gaps. For that reason, child-rearing periods should also count more toward pensions.

The Free Voters want more daycare places. The places should be affordable. They should also be open early and late in the day. This makes it easier for mothers to work. People who raise children should get a higher pension later.

The Free Voters want to create a family center in every municipality that families in crisis can turn to. In addition, more short-term care places for children are to be created to relieve families in emergencies.

Some families go through a crisis. The Free Voters want to help them. Every town should get a family center. People can get advice there easily. In an emergency, children should also be able to stay somewhere else for a short time.

The Free Voters want to better protect children and adolescents from violence, drugs, extremism and manipulation on social media, mainly through education in schools and local reporting points. Child marriages concluded abroad are not to be recognized in Germany, without exception. For the party, protecting the child ranks above the parents' freedom of religion.

The Free Voters want to protect children better. Schools should teach about dangers. There should be local places where people can report problems. Marriages with children from abroad should not count in Germany. For the party, protecting children matters more than the parents' religion.

The Greens want to write nationwide quality standards for daycare centers and family daycare into law and permanently raise federal funding. A package of measures is meant to recruit more staff, and daycare fees should depend on income.

The Greens want to spend more money on daycare. The same quality rules should apply to daycare across the country. There should be more daycare teachers. Daycare fees should depend on income. Companies should find it easier to create daycare places.

The Greens want to raise Kindergeld (child benefit) by law whenever the child tax allowance goes up. Later, relief through both routes is to be equal, so that every child gets the same support regardless of the parents' income.

Families get child benefit or save taxes through a child tax allowance. Parents with high incomes save more this way. The Greens want to change that. When the allowance goes up, child benefit should go up too. Later, all children should get the same amount.

The Greens want people on public benefits or low earnings to get prescribed contraceptives at no cost and without red tape. In the longer run this is to apply to everyone. The platform calls family planning a human right.

Contraceptives cost money. The Greens want people with little money to get them for free. This applies to products a doctor prescribes. Later, everyone should get them for free.

The Greens want to raise Elterngeld (parental allowance) to a minimum of 500 and a maximum of 2,400 euros. Parental leave is to be designed so that each parent can use at least one third of it. This is meant to encourage a more even split of family work.

Parents get a parental allowance after a birth. The Greens want to raise it. It should be at least 500 euros. It should be at most 2,400 euros. Both parents should share parental leave more fairly.

The Greens want to introduce two weeks of paid leave after a birth for fathers and co-mothers. They also want graduated maternity protection after miscarriages, maternity pay for self-employed women and a permanently higher entitlement to child sick pay.

After a birth, fathers and co-mothers should get two weeks off. They get money to replace their pay during that time. Self-employed women should also get money around the birth. Parents should be able to stay home longer when their child is sick.

The Greens want to lower single parents' risk of poverty, among other things with a tax credit and a higher maintenance advance. In addition, a Verantwortungsgemeinschaft (community of responsibility) is to let people take legally binding responsibility for one another outside marriage.

Many single parents have little money. The Greens want to help them with taxes. They should also get a higher maintenance advance. People who are not married should be able to care for each other in a legally binding way. This is called a community of responsibility.

The Greens want to create a Kindergrundsicherung (basic child allowance) as soon as possible. Applications are to become simpler and increasingly automatic so that benefits reach all eligible children. The state is to inform families about their entitlements on its own initiative.

Many families do not claim money they are entitled to. The Greens therefore want to introduce a basic child allowance. Applications should become simpler. The state should tell parents on its own what money their child can get.

The Greens want to help municipalities build up child and youth work with a special program running for ten years. In addition, mental health services for young people at schools are to be expanded.

Many meeting places for children and teenagers no longer exist. The Greens want to give towns and cities money for them for ten years. Schools should offer more help with mental health problems. Counseling services should get enough money.

The Greens want to change family law so that rainbow families are no longer disadvantaged in parentage law. In the party's view, family is wherever people take responsibility for one another.

The Greens want to change family law. Two mothers should be treated the same as a mother and a father. Families with more than two parents should also get more rights. People should be able to care for each other without marriage. This should count in law.

The Left wants a major expansion of public, fee-free all-day care for children of all ages. The second parent would get 28 days of leave after the birth, and the minimum Elterngeld (parental allowance) would rise to 420 euros. The aim is to make family and work easier to combine and to share care work more equally.

The Left wants more daycare and all-day care. Care should cost nothing. After a birth, the second parent would also get 28 days off. The lowest parental allowance would rise to 420 euros.

The Left wants to abolish Ehegattensplitting (joint tax splitting for married couples) and tax each person individually. Single parents would get a tax credit and improved advance child support. For the party, family is wherever people take responsibility for each other, regardless of marriage.

Married couples often pay less tax today through joint filing. The Left wants to end that. Each person would be taxed alone. Single parents would get more help. Families with two mothers or two fathers would get equal rights.

The Left wants to create a stand-alone Kindergrundsicherung (basic child benefit) that combines four benefits. It includes a Kindergeld (child benefit) of 350 euros a month for every child. The aim is to fight child poverty.

The Left wants a basic benefit for children. Every child would get 350 euros a month. Poor children would get extra money. Housing costs and school trips would also be covered.

The ÖDP wants to introduce a salary for people who raise children or care for relatives within the family. The platform argues that this work is a service to society without which the welfare system would collapse.

The ÖDP wants to pay a salary to parents and to people who care for relatives. They do work for all of society. Without this work the welfare system would not function. So they should get money for it.

The ÖDP wants to pay parents a wage for raising their children and introduce a basic income for children to cover material costs. Parents would decide for themselves whether to keep the money or use it to pay for childcare of their choice. In the program's view, today's welfare system disadvantages families because it undervalues the work of raising children.

The ÖDP wants to pay parents for raising children. Parents should get a wage for this. They can also use it to pay for daycare. Every child should also get a basic income. The ÖDP says: raising children is work for all of society.

The PdF calls for a parental leave model for self-employed people with a legal entitlement. In its view they are currently disadvantaged compared with employees because they often cannot afford time off work.

Self-employed people have no right to parental leave so far. The PdF wants to change that. They should also get a legal right. This should help them combine family and work.

The PdF wants to invest in daycare centers and home-based childcare and create more places. Childcare is to become more flexible so that family and work fit together better, especially for shift workers and single parents.

The PdF wants more places in daycare. There should be more staff per child. Daycare should be open longer and more flexibly. This helps parents who work shifts. It also helps single parents.

The PdF wants to adjust Elterngeld (parental allowance) continuously to inflation and give parents more leeway to draw it at the same time. Kindergeld (child benefit) would be paid automatically without an application to spare families paperwork.

The PdF wants to change the parental allowance. It should rise when prices rise. Both parents should be able to get it at the same time for longer. Child benefit should come on its own. Parents would no longer need to apply.

The PdF wants to introduce flexible working-time models so that both parents can combine work and family on equal terms. Paid work and care work are to be shared more fairly, and conventional gender roles broken up.

The PdF wants flexible working hours for parents. Both parents should be able to work and care for children. Companies with good offers for families should get support. Parents should return to work more easily. There should be more part-time training for this.

The PdF wants family policy measures reviewed regularly by independent experts and a joint body of the federal government, the states and municipalities. The platform argues that differing standards and priorities across these levels make consistent implementation difficult.

The PdF wants regular checks of family policy. Independent experts should do the checks. The federal government, the states and the towns should meet in one group. That way the same rules should apply everywhere.

The PdF considers existing protection structures for children inadequate. It wants uniform procedures for detecting violence, more shelters, better networking among agencies and long-term therapy services.

The PdF wants to protect children better from violence. Schools, daycare centers and doctors should spot violence earlier. There should be more safe places for children. Agencies should work together better. Affected children should get help for a long time.

The PdF opposes an immediate legal entitlement to all-day care starting at elementary school age. It points to staff shortages, costs for municipalities and risks to quality. Funding, skilled staff and standards should be secured first.

The PdF does not want a quick legal right to all-day care. A legal right means parents can demand a place. The PdF says staff and money are missing. First there should be more trained staff and good facilities.

The SPD wants to lengthen Elterngeld (parental allowance) from 14 to 18 months, with six months reserved for each parent. A new two-week paid leave for fathers or partners after a birth is also planned. The aim is more family time and a more equal split between partners.

Parents should get parental allowance for longer. It would be 18 months instead of 14. Each parent has six months just for them. After a birth, fathers or partners should get two weeks off. They keep getting their pay during that time.

The SPD advocates fee-free education from daycare onward and a free, healthy lunch in daycare centers and schools. An annual family budget would subsidize household help. Parents should thus be able to rely on childcare and get relief in daily life.

Daycare and school should cost families nothing. All children should get a healthy lunch there without paying. Families should get money each year for help at home. Families in hard situations should get support for longer.

Low-wage families, especially single parents, should get by on child benefit, child supplement and housing benefit without topping up with Bürgergeld (citizen's income). The SPD also wants to expand education and participation services and sees these as steps toward its basic child allowance.

Some parents work and still have too little money. The SPD wants to help them with child benefit, child supplement and housing benefit. Then they no longer need citizen's income. Applying should get easier. Daycare centers and schools in poor areas should get more help.

The SPD wants to put funding for voluntary service programs on a new footing through an agreement between the federal government and the states. The platform argues that in many places there are more applicants than places.

Young people can do a year of voluntary service. Often there are too few places. The SPD wants to secure more money for this. The federal government and the states should arrange it together.

The Tierschutzpartei calls for a Kindergrundsicherung (basic child benefit) that does not depend on parents' income. Children's rights should get their own article in the Basic Law. Daycare, schools, and childcare should be free in the long run, and youth welfare offices should get more staff.

Every child should get money from the state. The parents' income should not matter. Children's rights should be written into the constitution. Daycare should cost nothing in the future. Youth welfare offices should get more staff.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to anchor children's rights in Article 6 of the Grundgesetz (Basic Law). The child's best interests should take priority in all measures, and children should be heard in government decisions.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to write children's rights into the constitution. The well-being of children should matter most. Children should have a say in decisions. There should also be more money for victims of abuse.

The Tierschutzpartei wants more youth recreation centers with more staff and guaranteed all-day care. Tutoring should be expanded and be cheap or free for children from low-income families.

The Tierschutzpartei wants more youth centers with more staff. Children should be able to get care all day. Tutoring should cost little or nothing for poor families.

Volt wants to scrap Ehegattensplitting (joint tax splitting for married couples) and give each parent an individual entitlement to seven months of Elterngeld (parental allowance). Care for children and people needing long-term care is to be expanded substantially. The aim is to bring more women, older people, and people with disabilities into work.

Volt wants to end a tax benefit for married couples. Each parent should get seven months of parental pay. There should be more care for children and for people who need help. This way more people can have a job.

Volt wants to set uniform nationwide staff-to-child ratios and group sizes for early childhood education. This comes with digital allocation of places, language support and mixed teams, to give children equal opportunities and relieve parents.

Volt wants the same rules for all daycare centers in Germany. One staff member would look after only a few children. Groups would be small. A website would show free daycare places.

Volt wants to introduce eight weeks of paternity leave and a minimum parental leave of three months for each parent. The Elterngeld (parental allowance) would be calculated more simply, and single parents would get more child sick days, full child sickness pay and special protection against dismissal. The platform argues this promotes shared parenting and the economic equality of women.

Volt wants eight weeks of leave for fathers after a birth. Each parent should take at least three months of parental leave. The parental allowance should become simpler. Single parents should get more help. Their jobs should be better protected.