Childcare - Daycare center closures: Freie Wohlfahrt and parents' council warn
The Freie Wohlfahrtspflege and the State Advisory Council of Daycare Parents have once again issued an urgent warning about the collapse of the social infrastructure in North Rhine-Westphalia. If state policy does not finally react, further reductions in services or even closures will be the result in the coming year. This would affect all areas, from daycare centers and all-day school programs to care and social counseling services, warned spokespersons for the "NRW bleib sozial" initiative in Düsseldorf on Monday.
After a large demonstration last October with around 25,000 protesters in front of the state parliament, there had been no appropriate political response, criticized Christian Woltering, Chairman of Freie Wohlfahrtspflege NRW. Despite the dramatic situation of the providers, there are no noticeable improvements for the social infrastructure in the 2024 state budget. "We are facing a threatening crisis and there are nothing but warm words from state politicians."
Daniela Heimann from the board of the NRW State Parents' Advisory Council reported that some parents are already having to reduce their working hours or give up their jobs completely because they are no longer able to cope with the many absences due to the short notice of daycare services. In some cases, children are only turned away at the daycare center door in the morning.
Because of the reduced supply, some children have to be sifted out, while others have to leave straight away. "The children don't understand that," said Heimann. In many cases, only those whose parents are both working can stay. Other providers have alternating models where the children can only come every other day. This is an imposition for two to six-year-olds.
The local authority umbrella organizations also took the same line. In a statement, they demanded that the state at least double the 100 million that had been promised to the independent providers and the church as bridging aid for the first half of 2024.
Woltering said that the daycare providers were currently sitting on around 400 million euros to compensate for inflation alone. In the event of insolvency, the local authorities would ultimately be obliged to take over the facilities if necessary in order to implement the legal entitlement to a daycare place.
Even before the legal entitlement to all-day care in elementary school from 2026, there are already signs of a dramatic shortage in this area. "We should actually be training people for this right now," said Woltering. In fact, the existing staff cannot even be retained due to the uncertain funding.
Information on the press conference Press release from the municipal umbrella organizations
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The "NRW bleib sozial" initiative in Düsseldorf, part of the Freie Wohlfahrtspflege in North Rhine-Westphalia, has expressed concerns about the potential closure of daycare centers due to insufficient state response. Some parents in North Rhine-Westphalia are already reducing their working hours or leaving their jobs entirely due to daycare service absences. In Düsseldorf, the Freie Wohlfahrtspflege NRW chairperson, Christian Woltering, called for immediate action from state politicians to address this critical social situation.
Source: www.stern.de
