As of: March 18, 2024, 9:28 p.m
By: Jana Stabener
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Press
Split
Instead of basic child security, the Union wants a child future benefit.
Bernd Siggelkow from the Arche explains what he considers to be particularly important in education.
The Union (CDU/CSU) believes that the promises announced in the coalition agreement for “opportunities for children, strong families and the best education” have not been kept.
That's why she presented the children's future program in September 2023.
On Monday, March 18, 2024, the Committee for Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth will discuss this ten-point plan.
“Education and social infrastructure are the key to better opportunities and not more money through transfer payments,” says their children’s future program.
Instead of a basic child benefit, which would bundle five individual benefits, the CDU/CSU is proposing a “children’s future benefit” for families in difficulty in addition to child benefit.
This should be made available as simply as possible via an app so that the services actually reach the children.
“Basically, the idea of child future benefit is very good,” says Arche founder Bernd Siggelkow
to BuzzFeed News Germany,
a portal from
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
The CDU/CSU do not see “more money through transfer payments” as a key to protecting children from child poverty.
Why?
© Cavan Images/IMAGO
More on the topic: Why the Arche founder doesn't want an increase in citizens' money and what he is demanding instead
Basic child security “belongs to the children, not the parents”
It's not about the name, but about where the money goes.
“As Arche, we have been calling for basic child support of 600 euros per month for many years,” says Siggelkow.
Half of this should flow directly into the education system and a quarter into a pot from which teachers could access benefits in kind for the children, for example for tutoring, sports clubs or school trips.
“The rest belongs to the children, not the parents.”
“Services for more education for all children must not take the detour through the parents’ wallets,” says the Arche founder.
“Experience shows that the majority of parents neither buy books nor pay for tutoring,” says Siggelkow.
This would be used to buy washing machines or other things for everyday use.
“An increase in social benefits should go directly to the child,” demands the Arche founder.
This only works through an “investment in education”, i.e. better equipped schools.
“So-called hotspot schools should no longer exist,” he criticizes.
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Arche founder: “Children from disadvantaged families need us”
The Arche founder supports the fact that the CDU/CSU wants to introduce family guides for hard-to-reach families in socially challenging situations - probably because he sees his organization himself as such a “guide”.
“Children from hotspot areas and children from educationally disadvantaged and financially disadvantaged families need, whatever we call it, guides or organizations such as the Arche,” he says.
“We recognize the children's weaknesses and those of their parents in good time and can then take action.
We go into the families, help with financial plans for the month, help with cleaning, or support the families with the various routines.
If we don’t do that, the children from these families will fail later,” says Siggelkow.
“Unequally distributed opportunities block the future for many people”
“In order to combat child poverty, we have to think more comprehensively,” says Alexander Nöhring from Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO) at the committee hearing.
Not only education policy is needed, but also money in families, said Nöhring.
He finds it particularly “fatal” that the CDU/CSU only wants to combat child poverty with the available budget resources.
“The main problems are the injustices between social and tax law and the worse situation for the children of single parents, which is why real basic child protection is needed,” he says.
“Unequally distributed opportunities hinder the future of many people and are extremely economically inefficient, especially in times when we need well-qualified specialists.”