No daycare place – now what?

There has been a legal entitlement to a place at a daycare centre since 2013, but more than half of all parents with children under the age of six still have problems finding a place. Insufficient capacity, complicated enrolment processes and opaque criteria for allocating places lead to frustration for many parents in Germany when looking for a place at a daycare centre.

How can you increase your chances of getting a place?

In many cities and municipalities, places are allocated via an online registration portal. If this is the case, you should always check the maximum number of possible registrations/reservations and make full use of them. It is best to individualise the registration by entering a few personal words in the field provided. If possible, complete the registration form with all details, even if these are not marked as mandatory fields.

Even if reservations have been made in the online registration portal, you should seek direct contact with the daycare centres. We recommend looking at the centres in advance via the profile or the homepage in order to obtain information. The next step is to write a personal letter or email to introduce yourself as a family and explain why your child should be looked after in this particular centre and ask for a personal appointment. It is not advisable to make more phone calls, as these are sometimes disruptive for the centre. They lead to interruptions in the children’s daily routine if the carer has to leave their workplace for this.

The legal entitlment

Children from the age of one are entitled to a childcare place. The place can be in a public daycare centre or with a childminder. It is not a legal requirement that one or both parents work. Children aged three and over are entitled to a place in a public daycare centre.

Note: In principle, childminders also fulfil the legal entitlement to childcare. However, this only applies if early childhood support (§ 24 SGB VIII) is also ensured and not just the duty of supervision. A place in a private daycare centre, on the other hand, does not count as ‘legal entitlement fulfilled’.

Enforcement of the legal claim

If you have not received a childcare place in the official allocation process, it may make sense to take the legal route next.

1. The first step is to contact the responsible youth welfare office. The youth welfare office will then search again for available childcare places. It can take between two and three months for the Youth Welfare Office to notify you of an approval or rejection.
2. If the youth welfare office is also unable to find a suitable place for your child, you will receive a written rejection letter from them. It is also possible to receive a so-called partial rejection notice. This will state that although no place is available in a public facility, a place can be offered in a day care centre that charges a fee. In both cases, you can take the same action against the decision in the next step.
3. After receiving the rejection notice, you have four weeks to lodge an appeal. The authority will then re-examine its procedure and usually send you a second rejection notice regarding the appeal.
   Note: In Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, there is no objection procedure; in these states, a complaint can be lodged as soon as the rejection notice has been issued – the four-week deadline also applies here.
4. You can then file a complaint, even without the need for a lawyer. The complaint must be submitted informally by letter to the administrative court. It is recommended that you file the claim under interim relief so that a decision on your application can be made within four weeks and lengthy proceedings can be avoided. Reasons for the urgency may be, for example, the start of a new job or the end of parental leave.
5. The legal entitlement to childcare is enshrined in law and local authority providers only have limited possibilities to justify a refusal. If no childcare place is available, the legal entitlement can be converted into a cost reimbursement entitlement so that parents can claim the costs for alternative care.
6. In the case of a claim for compensation for loss of earnings, a lawyer is required before a civil court. In such situations, it also makes sense to have legal expenses insurance, which generally covers the proceedings before the civil court, provided that the corresponding addendum for proceedings before the administrative court is included in the insurance.