What do the parties in Thuringia say on families?

The AfD wants parliament to review the effects of the COVID measures on families and to prevent similar interventions in the future. The platform regards the policy of that time as a violation of fundamental rights that harmed children, parents and older people.

The AfD wants the state parliament to examine the COVID rules. The focus is on the effects on families. The AfD says the rules harmed children and old people. This should never happen again.

The AfD wants to introduce a Kinderbegrüßungsgeld (newborn welcome payment) in Thuringia: 10,000 euros per newborn child, tax-free and spread over five years. It would go to parents who are liable for income tax because of their work. At the federal level, the party wants to push for a fairer balance between parents and childless people in taxes and pensions.

The AfD wants to introduce a welcome payment for babies. Parents get 10,000 euros for each new baby. The money is paid over five years. It is only for parents who work and owe income tax.

The AfD demands that parents be free to decide on upbringing and childcare and that care at home not be put at a disadvantage. At the same time, nurseries and kindergartens should offer high quality through an adequate staff-to-child ratio. The party invokes parental rights under the Basic Law.

The AfD wants parents to decide on childcare themselves. Parents who care for their child at home should not be worse off. Daycare centers should have enough staff for the children. Childcare workers should be paid well.

The AfD opposes writing separate children's rights into the constitution. In its view, children already hold fundamental rights, and such a step would weaken parents' right to raise their children in favor of the state.

The AfD does not want special children's rights in the constitution. It says children already have basic rights. Parents should decide how to raise their children. The state should step in only when parents fail.

The BSW calls for smaller groups and better staff-to-child ratios in daycare centers and after-school programs so working parents are not disadvantaged. It also wants mandatory language support for the youngest children to prepare them for school.

Parents should be able to work well. For that, they need good daycare. The BSW wants smaller groups. There should be more staff for the children. Small children should get required language lessons.

The CDU stands by the existing fee exemption for kindergarten and aims to abolish fees entirely once quality and staffing have improved. It also wants kindergarten meals to become cheaper.

Part of kindergarten is already free today. That should stay. Later, kindergarten should be fully free. But first the CDU wants more staff and better quality. Meals should also get cheaper.

The CDU wants to develop Thuringia's parent-child centers into a statewide network of family centers. In addition, state programs for language support and diversity are to continue, and home-based daycare is to be strengthened.

Kindergartens should also advise and help families. There should be such family centers all over Thuringia. Programs for language support should continue. Home daycare providers should get fair pay.

The CDU wants to keep Ehegattensplitting (joint tax filing for married couples) and expand it into family splitting, where each child lowers the tax burden. Child care costs are to be deductible up to 6,000 euros per child per year. Single parents are to get a higher tax relief amount.

The CDU wants families to pay less tax. With each child, the tax should go down. Parents should be able to deduct child care costs from their taxes. People raising children alone should get more relief.

The CDU wants to inform families better about available benefits, give them more say vis-à-vis the state government, and offer them regular free admission to cultural institutions. It argues that many families do not know what support exists.

Many families do not know what help is available. The CDU wants to put all the information in one app. Families should have more say in politics. Four times a year, families should get into museums and theaters for free.

The CDU wants to keep maternity clinics open in rural areas as well, support family midwives, and reliably fund pregnancy conflict counseling centers. The party sees this counseling as part of protecting life and helping women with unwanted pregnancies.

The CDU wants maternity clinics in rural areas too. Midwives should support families after a birth. There should be enough money for this. Counseling centers for women with unwanted pregnancies should also get secure funding.

The CDU plans a child protection drive with a dedicated child protection act to better shield children from violence, neglect and abuse. This includes new police powers, more counseling for parents, and expanded medical protection structures.

The CDU wants to protect children better from violence. There should be a new law for this. Police should be able to ban dangerous people from coming near children. They should be able to check this with an electronic ankle monitor. Parents in trouble should get help more easily.

The Left wants to abolish parental fees for kindergarten in Thuringia entirely. First a third year is to become free, then the whole kindergarten period.

The Left wants parents to pay nothing for kindergarten. Today two years are free. By 2025 a third year should be added. Later the whole time should be free.

The Left wants to put the state's family support on a permanent footing and provide free, easily accessible leisure activities for families. The Thuringian family card would continue as an app. Foster and adoptive families would be covered by uniform professional standards at youth welfare offices across the state.

The Left wants to help families more. There should be leisure activities that cost nothing. The family card should be available as an app. Foster families should get equally good help from the youth office everywhere in Thuringia.

The Left wants to further raise funding for local youth services and youth social work and secure both for the long term in towns and rural areas. Youth centers and clubs are to become accessible when they are converted or newly built. The aim is to give young people support and spaces for their own initiatives.

The Left wants to give more money to youth work. Young people should have meeting places and leisure activities close to home. Youth centers should be built without barriers. Then young people with disabilities can take part too.

The Left wants to enshrine the office of the state commissioner for child protection in law to secure it permanently. Institutions that work with children and young people are to get help with their own protection plans. The party wants to combat violence in families through better cooperation among authorities.

The Left wants to protect children better from violence. Thuringia has a commissioner for child protection. This office should be written into a law. Schools, kindergartens and clubs should get help with protection plans.

The SPD wants to begin introducing a free lunch for all children in daycare centers and schools. The meal is meant to be healthy and cost neither children nor parents anything.

The SPD wants a lunch for all children. This applies to daycare and school. The food should be healthy. Parents and children should not pay for it.

The SPD wants to fully abolish parental fees for daycare and after-school care (Hort), ideally from January 2025. It bases this on its conviction that education, from daycare to a master craftsman's certificate or master's degree, should in principle be free.

Parents should no longer pay for daycare and after-school care. This should apply from January 2025. The SPD believes education should be free for everyone. That goes from daycare to university.

The SPD wants a binding step-by-step plan to improve the ratio of staff to children in daycare centers. The long-term goal is the expert-recommended ratios of 1:3 for children under three and 1:7.5 for older children. In addition, center management is to be strengthened and social work introduced in daycare centers.

Daycare centers should have more staff per child. The SPD wants a fixed plan with several steps. Experts recommend one staff member for at most 3 small children. For older children it is 7 to 8. There should also be social workers in daycare centers.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for a "family working time" model that lets both parents reduce their hours with wage compensation. In Thuringia, small and mid-sized businesses in particular are to get support in adapting working conditions to families.

Parents should be able to work less and still have enough money. This should apply equally to mothers and fathers. The SPD wants to push for this at the federal level. In Thuringia it wants to help small companies. The companies should allow working from home, for example.

The SPD wants to keep supporting open child and youth work and youth associations. The per-capita youth grant to municipalities (Jugendpauschale) is to rise regularly by law, and an investment program is to modernize youth facilities.

The SPD wants to keep supporting youth work. Towns get money from the state for this. This money should rise regularly. That should be written into a law. Youth clubs and education centers should be modernized.