At the end of 2012, the German government passed a law which guarantees every parent who decides to stay at home in order to take care of an infant child between 15 and 36 months, a monthly payment of 150 Euros.

One reason why the law has been passed is that there are not enough day nurseries available for every child under the age of three years. One reason for passing the law is that the parent has a financial incentive for staying at home with her/his child.

The law is the wrong way to support young families and to act against the demographic change in Germany. As in almost all countries, there is still the social conviction that the mother has to take care of the children. The numbers confirm this because only 5 percent[1] of the receivers are men.

Moreover, the child care subsidy is mostly used by families who are part of the underclass and/or have a migrant background[2].

Last month, the constitutional court in Germany declared the child care subsidy is unconstitutional because it should be federally organized, not on a national level. The consequence is that each of the 16 federal states in Germany can decide for themselves what they want to do with the money. Some states will maintain the child care subsidy, others will invest the money in the extension of day nurseries.

[1] http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/betreuungsgeld-141.html

[2] http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/betreuungsgeld-141.html