-
fromAnnette Schlegl
–
conclude
–
A Dreieich mother complains about the lack of care capacities for her child in Dreieich and shoots against the city and the district.
The city of Dreieich slept through childcare for years, if not decades. The Dreieich policy has to put up with this accusation from Kerstin Lohr, a mother who had to wait a year for a daycare place for her daughter and is now unable to get a place in a kindergarten. The 36-year-old does not have a good hair in the Offenbach district either: there has not yet been a reaction, although the Darmstadt Administrative Court ordered the authorities to provide evidence of a childcare place by October 1.
Kerstin Lohr is not alone with her problem: A good week ago, parents demonstrated in front of the city council meeting to express their displeasure with “the unreasonable childcare situation”. There are not enough daycare places in Dreieich.
Lohr is currently at home on parental leave with her twelve-week-old baby – her second child. The friends of her three-year-old daughter switched to the Ü3 area after the summer vacation, and of course your child assumed that it would also move there after its third birthday, according to Lohr. “The daycare manager had already planned it in the Ü3 area of his facility and said that he could save staff that way, because there would be no acclimatization,” she explains.
But everything turned out differently: The daughter does not get a place in kindergarten because Kerstin Lohr is on parental leave. “Legal claim? Irrelevant. Child welfare? Irrelevant, ”she annoys. Her child was already unfamiliar with larger groups after the lockdown, and now they will have to start settling in again in a few months. That ties up more staff, and too few daycare staff is the big problem. However, an educator recruitment package for daycare staff decided in 2019 is being implemented far too slowly. An application to implement measures that had not yet been implemented in 2021 was rejected by the majority of city councilors in July.
Daycare centers in Dreieich
According to a report of the municipal childcare department from August, there is a lack of 292 places in Dreieich in the 3+ area, i.e. in the kindergarten. In the day nursery, which looks after one to three year olds, 66 children were not given a place.
Since 2019 the city has created a total of 84 places for children under the age of three and 166 places in kindergarten.
From the coming year By 2025, 118 additional U3 spaces and 250 spaces for children aged three to six will be gradually created in Dreieich; the majority is planned for the years 2023/24. The daycare places have already been politically decided, and according to Mayor Martin Burlon, the municipal housing association Dreieich Bau is already working on the projects (non-party). ann–
The Lohrs went to the administrative court to ensure early childhood support and social contact with other children for their child. In response to their urgent application, the judges ordered the Offenbach district to provide evidence of a childcare place for the daughter on October 1 by a resolution dated September 8th. “Unfortunately, the circle just went into hiding,” says the mother, disregarding a legally binding court order. Now it comes to foreclosure under threat of a fine. “You could really use the tax money better – for example to attract new educators.”
Mayor Martin Burlon (independent) rejects the accusation of a “dormitory city” in childcare matters. “We follow the birth statistics very closely,” he says. Dreieich’s problems, however, lay in the lack of day-care center staff, in the influx from the expensive big cities, but also in the generation change. Older citizens are selling their apartments or houses or are looking for smaller, young families to move in. “So we have unknowns due to immigration and fluctuation, and that is difficult for us to control,” he says.
As an example, he cites the district of Offenthal, where not a single new development area has been designated in recent years and there are comparatively many daycare centers. Nevertheless, one cannot now offer a daycare place to all families there.
He spoke to the demonstrating parents himself a good week ago and was “open to any input from parents”. Incidentally, the city council decided immediately afterwards to build a new daycare center for six groups in the Götzenhain district for 6.5 million euros. It was also agreed that the city would be the sponsor of the Catholic day care center St. Laurentius on October 1st. The church council wanted to close the daycare center due to massive staff shortages. 50 kindergarten places, which the city has now “saved”, would then have been lost.
In the Offenbach district, one understands the displeasure of the Lohrs because of the lack of childcare. After the decision of the administrative court, the responsible authorities in Dreieich were immediately contacted and asked to provide the family with a place for the child. However, the city rejected this with reference to its award criteria. In these guidelines, adopted in the previous year, children whose parents are not on parental leave are prioritized. The circle had no further options for action, it said in a statement. He has neither his own care facilities nor legal influence on the municipalities in this regard.
–
