Objectives and accessibility
As well as day-care centres for children, child-minding services are also available, especially for children under the age of three. The general objectives of day care for children according to Book Eight of the Social Code (Achtes Buch Sozialgesetzbuch – Kinder- und Jugendhilfe) mentioned in the introduction also apply to home-based provision of day care for children. Here one or more children are cared for by a childminder in a private home or an apartment or house rented for this purpose. Children in day-care centres are sometimes also looked after by a childminder if the opening times of the institution do not suit the needs of parents. Pursuant to Book Eight of the Social Code (§ 24 paragraphs 2 and 3), the legal entitlement to a publicly subsidised place in day care from the age of one may be used in home-based provision until children reach three years of age.
On the federal level, within the framework of public welfare responsibility for early childhood education and care (ECEC) in home-based provision lies with the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend – BMFSFJ), on the level of the Länder, the Ministries of Youth and Social Affairs are the competent authorities.
Requirements for childminders and child ratios
Since 2005 minimum qualification requirements for the childminder are in place.
In 2015, the German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut – DJI) in Munich published the competence-oriented Qualification Manual for Child Day Care (Qualifizierungshandbuch Kindertagespflege – QHB) in order to create a new basis for the quantitative and qualitative expansion of child day care for children under three years of age.
The QHB realigns the basic qualification of childminding staff. It extends the basic qualification to 300 teaching units plus internships and self-learning units. The 300 teaching units are divided into 160 teaching units of activity-preparing and 140 teaching units of activity-accompanying basic qualification. In addition to 100 hours of self-study, the future childminders complete a total of 80 hours of practical training. Due to the increased scope of qualification, the QHB also opens up new possibilities for follow-up qualification for vocational training paths for child day care workers. An updated new edition of the QHB was published in 2019.
In accordance with Book Eight of the Social Code (§ 43 paragraph 3), the childminder-child ratio is a maximum of five children per childminder.