Miesbach - Those who need care for work-related reasons are allowed to leave their child in the daycare center - those who can take care of the care themselves or at least organize it are asked not to bring their child.
Actually a good solution to reduce contact to a minimum in times of Corona - if it weren't for a catch: the daycare fees.
In the current lockdown, they got stuck with their parents, even if their child stayed at home at the request of the facility.
Now the Bavarian state government has taken over the parental contributions according to the regulations in the spring lockdown.
This applies to the months of January and February - also for lunch care.
A new addition is a so-called de minimis clause: It states that the contributions will also be reimbursed if the child was in emergency care for a maximum of five days a month.
We asked Petra Schubert what significance this assumption of costs has on the part of the Free State.
She is the district manager of Caritas in the Miesbach district, which operates day-care centers in Irschenberg and Holzkirchen.
Ms. Schubert, the Free State now pays at least the daycare fees for January and February for everyone who stays at home. Good news, right?
Yes, in any case.
The Caritas Association and the Association of Catholic Day Care Centers have politically campaigned at the ministry to ensure that the issue is resolved in spring 2020, as in the time of the first emergency care.
The government reacted quickly here.
I'm surprised myself that it happened so quickly.
"Wedge between parents and institution"
You have criticized in advance that parents should look after their children at home with a view to the risk of infection, but still have to pay the daycare fees. Why?
The hardest thing about this issue is that a wedge has been driven between parents and the institution.
That unsettled everyone and put an unnecessary strain on the mood.
Can't the institutions do without themselves?
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Caritas district manager Petra Schubert.
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No, the parent's share is too important for that.
After all, depending on the facility, this makes up 15 to 20 percent of the total volume of financing a daycare center.
Our two Caritas facilities are currently around a third full, and the trend is rising.
We have our entire staff on duty because we can no longer mix the groups due to the corona - they stay separate.
So you also need more staff.
In addition, employees are repeatedly in quarantine or on sick leave, even with simple cold symptoms such as runny nose, which would otherwise not be an issue.
We also keep a lot of contact with the children and families who are currently not in daycare - for example with handicraft folders, reading lessons or parenting advice via Skype.
"Parents need planning security"
How did other carriers see the issue of fee absorption?
Overall, it was a big issue for charities.
The fact that the costs are now being reimbursed is an important signal for institutions and parents.
However, it would be helpful to announce this earlier and resolve it.
Then the parents would have more planning security.
This is especially true for the de minimis clause.
I can imagine that it is annoying for parents when they are now just over the five days per month.
And another problem remains unsolved as well.
"Complete takeover would support educational equity"
Which one else?
That parents who currently use more than five days per month, but only use part of their booking time, do not receive any reimbursement of contributions.
Here, too, I would like some of the shares to be taken over by the Free State.
It would certainly be easiest if the state covered all childcare costs, wouldn't it?
That would definitely relieve the families, give the sponsors more planning security and lead to more fairness in education.
At the same time, we need fundamentally better funding for daycare centers in order to ensure high quality and create better framework conditions for staff.
ddy
