Alarming declines: Halved the number of day parents in Brandenburg!

Alarming declines: Halved the number of day parents in Brandenburg!

Brandenburg, Deutschland - The situation of childcare in Brandenburg continues to worry. In recent years, the number of day parents, i.e. the child minder and day fathers, has dropped greatly. According to Tagesspiegel went back to only 663 in 2022 in 2019. Despite this alarming development, the remaining day parents looked after 2599 children in 2024.

A reason for this decline could be the lack of financial support for the training of day care workers. You have to finance your further training yourself, which many potential applicants: deterred inside. This concern was recently expressed by Kristy Augustin, the CDU member of the state parliament. She described the falling number of day care staff as a "warning signal" for the Ministry of Education and called for a comprehensive evaluation of the "Child Day Care Strengthening Act" from 2023, which provides for several improvements in day care.

investments in childcare

A glimmer of hope is emerging on the horizon. On April 25, 2023, the cabinet passed two important draft laws to improve childcare, including the "Law to strengthen day care". This was announced by Brandenburg's Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and provides investments of around 130 million euros for 2024. The aim is to improve the quality and participation in child and youth welfare.

These reforms not only include the strengthening of child day care, but also measures for financial relief for families. From August 2024, children will be able to go into kindergarten without a contribution from the age of year until school. In addition, the staffing in cribs is improved, with the striving value to optimize the care ratio to 1: 4 by 2025.

Quality and future of childcare

However, the challenges remain significant. In view of the legal right to a kindergarten place, comprehensive recording of the support offers is urgently required. The Statistics of the Destatis shows that data about day care centers, approved places and supervised children are necessary to plan and ensure the needs-based expansion.

Overall, developments in childcare in Brandenburg show how important continuous effort and investments are. The will for improvement is there, however, it is crucial that these measures actually actually work in practice in order to significantly improve the care situation of our recent ones.