What do the parties in Hesse say on families?

The AfD wants to raise the birth rate of the native population significantly in the medium term and put the traditional family of mother, father and children at the center of policy. The state should promote having many children and set financial incentives. The party considers immigration unsuitable as a response to population decline.

Few children are born in Germany. The AfD wants native families to have more children. The state should promote this and give families financial benefits. The family of mother, father and children should get special protection. The AfD does not see immigration as a solution.

The AfD wants to abolish the posts of equal-opportunity officers and appoint family officers instead. New and existing rules would also be checked for whether they burden families.

Today there are equal-opportunity officers. The AfD wants to end these jobs. Family officers should take their place. They should check how family-friendly Hesse is. New laws should not put more burdens on families.

The AfD wants counseling centers to be required to offer pregnant women and expectant fathers an ultrasound of the unborn child. It also wants to build a broad support network for women with unwanted pregnancies so that abortions do not happen out of hardship.

Before an abortion, there is a counseling session. The AfD wants the counselors to offer an ultrasound of the child. Women should also get a list of all available help. The AfD wants more support for women with unwanted pregnancies.

The AfD rejects what it sees as the state's preference for care of small children outside the family. Parents who look after their children under three themselves should get the same financial support as daycare centers and childminders.

Some parents care for their small children at home. The AfD wants the state to support these parents with money. They should get as much as daycare centers and childminders. The AfD says small children need their parents most.

The AfD wants to write parents' right to raise their children explicitly into the Hessian constitution. It sees the children's rights added in 2018 as a way for the state to intervene in families.

The AfD wants to write parents' rights into the constitution of Hesse. Children's rights have been in it since 2018. The AfD fears the state will interfere in families because of this. Parents should be first in charge of raising children.

The AfD wants to pay a welcome bonus for every newborn child to encourage more births. Eligibility requires German citizenship and both parents having their main residence in Hesse for at least one year.

The AfD wants to give parents money for every new baby. This should encourage people to have more children. The parents must be German. They must have lived in Hesse for one year. The money comes in two parts.

Children and teenagers up to age 16 should get free admission to museums, castles, palaces and heritage sites when accompanied by a parent or guardian. The AfD wants to introduce the next generation to Hesse's cultural heritage.

Children up to age 16 should not pay admission. This applies to museums, castles and palaces. A parent must come along. The AfD wants children to get to know the history of Hesse.

The AfD wants nurseries and kindergartens to be free from the first child on. Lunch in daycare centers and at all schools should also cost nothing.

Nurseries and kindergartens should be free for parents. This should apply from the first child. Lunch at daycare and school should also be free. The food should be healthy and taste good.

The AfD wants to promote more flexible working hours, more work from home and childcare at or near the workplace. Universities should expand daycare, and students with children should get more support.

Parents should be able to combine work and family more easily. The AfD wants flexible working hours and more work from home. Companies should offer childcare. Universities should have more daycare places. Mothers should return to work easily after raising children.

The AfD wants to keep and promote Christian and Western customs in all daycare centers. It argues that fewer and fewer children and young people know their meaning and origin.

Christian customs should stay in daycare centers. The AfD wants to promote these customs. It says many children no longer know what they mean.

The AfD wants the protection of unborn life to be the foremost goal of pregnancy conflict counseling. Women would receive information on doctors and hospitals performing abortions only after intensive counseling. Victims of rape or abuse are to have unhindered access to abortion.

The AfD wants to protect unborn children. This should be the most important goal in counseling for pregnant women. Women should only learn where an abortion is possible after counseling. After a rape, an abortion should be possible without obstacles.

The CDU wants to give parents more flexibility with their time, for example through more flexible working hours and family time accounts. It also wants to expand services for families, such as family centers.

The CDU wants parents to have more time for their children. Working hours should be more flexible. There should be more family centers. Couples who want a child should get help.

The CDU wants to give families with children more priority in everyday life and plans a "Pact for Child-Friendliness" with municipalities and civil society institutions. Children under six are to get free admission to state-owned facilities.

The CDU wants to make Hesse friendlier for children. Small children should not pay admission at state-owned places. There should be family tickets for any number of children. Young people should have more say in their towns.

The CDU wants to strengthen child protection, relying first on prevention and support for parents. Institutions working with children are to be required to report suspected abuse or neglect, and youth welfare offices are to get child protection coordinators.

The CDU wants to protect children better. Schools and other places should have to report suspected abuse. Youth welfare offices should get their own child protection experts. Parents should get help early.

The CDU wants to expand all forms of childcare so that every child whose parents want it gets a good place close to home. It regards care in the family, by childminders, in nurseries and in daycare centers as equally valuable.

The CDU wants to create more childcare places. The state should give towns money for daycare centers. Childminders should also get more support. Parents should be free to choose.

The CDU aims to make childcare for children aged three and over entirely free, going beyond the six hours a day that are already free of charge. The condition is that Hesse keeps more money after renegotiating the fiscal equalization system among the German states.

Today six hours of daycare a day are free. The CDU wants care from age three to be completely free. This should only happen if Hesse can keep more money. For that, the money-sharing system between the states must be renegotiated.

The FDP wants to create more daycare places and invest more in early childhood education. Once the shortage of places is closed, groups are to become smaller.

The FDP wants more places in daycare centers. Every child should be able to get a place. Later, the groups should get smaller. Then staff have more time for each child.

The FDP wants childcare hours to follow families' needs more closely and wants parents to choose the facility, near home or near work. Home-based child daycare is to move closer to the municipalities.

Daycare should be open at times families need. Parents should choose the daycare center themselves. It can be near home or near work. Towns should be able to do more for home-based childminders.

The FDP wants to expand the availability of pregnancy conflict counseling and family counseling. According to the platform, women often find it hard to locate a counseling center nearby.

Women need counseling before an abortion. Often there is no counseling center nearby. So the FDP wants more services. Women and men should find help easily.

The FDP wants to give children equal opportunities regardless of background and have trained staff accompany families with little money or education. There should also be enough childcare and school places so that parents can combine children and work and choose between educational approaches.

All children should have the same chances. The FDP wants to give extra help to families with little money. Trained workers should support these families regularly. There should be enough daycare centers and schools. Then parents can work more easily.

The Greens want to strengthen youth work after the COVID-19 pandemic with a five-year action program. Mobile and outreach services are to grow, and child and youth welfare services are to work more closely with schools.

Many activities for young people were canceled during COVID. The Greens want to start a five-year program. There should be more youth work. Street work should also grow. That is social work done right on the street.

The Greens want to fully implement the state action plan against sexual violence toward children and young people as well as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Prevention and support services are to grow, and child protection clinics are to be expanded.

The Greens want to protect children better from sexual violence. There should be more advice and help. There should be more child protection clinics. Doctors there examine children who have suffered violence.

The Greens want to help parents combine work and family and to support all family types, especially single parents and rainbow families. Family centers are to be strengthened and fertility treatment subsidized more.

The Greens want to help families. Parents should be able to combine work and family. Family centers should get more support. Couples who want a child should get more money for treatment.

The Greens focus on education and care from birth to age ten because, in their view, this is where the foundations for later success are laid. Daycare, childminding and elementary schools are to cooperate more closely, and 50 additional family centers are to open within five years.

The first years of life matter a lot for children. So daycare centers and elementary schools should work together more closely. The Greens want 50 new family centers. Families get help and advice there.

The Greens want an investment package to help municipalities expand daycare and nursery places. An accompanying action plan is meant to improve quality and working conditions, including everyday helpers for non-teaching tasks.

The Greens want more places in daycare centers and nurseries. Towns and cities will get state money for this. Daycare should also get better. Helpers should take some work off the teachers.

The Greens want to tackle staff shortages in daycare centers and nurseries with more funded training places. The state is to fund 1,000 paid, practice-integrated training places for early childhood educators every year.

Daycare centers lack trained staff. The Greens want to fund 1,000 training places every year. The trainees get paid. People from other jobs should also be able to switch more easily.

The Greens want to advance inclusion in daycare centers, nurseries and childminding and to develop language support further. The Sprach-Kita (language daycare) program, formerly paid for by the federal government, is to continue with state money.

Children with and without disabilities should go to daycare together. The Greens also want better language support in daycare. The state should keep paying for language daycare centers. Children from immigrant families should get more help.

The SPD wants to eliminate parental fees for nurseries and daycare centers in Hesse completely. In its view, education should be free from nursery through to a master craftsman's certificate or master's degree. The program calls this the largest net relief for families in the state.

The SPD wants parents to pay nothing for daycare. This also applies to nurseries for very young children. Education should be free from the start. Families should have more money left over.

The SPD wants to tackle staff shortages in daycare and social professions with more training places, paid training and easier career changes. Tuition fees for training schools are to be dropped. Better working conditions are meant to make these jobs more attractive and raise quality.

Daycare centers lack many trained workers. The SPD wants to train more people. Trainees should get paid and pay no school fees. Work in daycare should also get better.

The SPD wants the state of Hesse to pay two-thirds of daycare operating costs. This is meant to relieve municipalities and providers and make free daycare, more places and more staff possible. The expansion of daycare and nursery places is also to continue.

Daycare costs a lot of money. The state should pay two-thirds of the running costs. Towns and providers then carry less of the burden. There should also be more daycare places.

The SPD wants to expand protection of children and young people from violence across Hesse and adequately fund counseling and prevention. A state coordination office is to link the work at all levels. The program cites a rising number of children who experience violence.

The SPD wants to protect children better from violence. Counseling services should get enough money. A state office should link all the help. There should also be more therapy places for children.