Child Day Care

In cooperation with all childcare providers, youth welfare planning promotes the expansion of childcare services in line with demand, currently especially services for 0- to 3-year-olds. In doing so, the respective supply and demand situation in the districts is taken into account as well as the claim to offer the widest possible variety of providers and care concepts in all districts.

The legal basis for the provision of childcare services and for the promotion of children in daycare facilities is the Child and Youth Welfare Act (SGB VIII). According to § 24 SGB VIII, all children from one to under three years of age have an unrestricted right to a place in a daycare facility or in daycare. Children under the age of one are also entitled to a place in daycare if certain conditions are met (for example, the parent or guardian is employed). A child who has reached the age of three is entitled to support in a daycare facility until he or she starts school.

Municipalities are therefore challenged to analyze the local situation and to provide a high-quality supply of places that meets demand in good time or to initiate expansion measures that meet the current requirements and needs of families and their children.

Nothing is standardized, every child is special, everyone is welcome - this is the guiding principle of the City of Stuttgart's "Daycare for all" programme.

Inclusion in daycare centers means that a daycare center is there for all children, regardless of social and national origin, gender, religion, financial and cultural background, health impairment or disability and other differences. The "Kita für alle" program focuses on the education, upbringing and care of children with disabilities.

The "Kita für alle" program supports facilities on their path to inclusion and families with a child with a disability receive quick and unbureaucratic advice. Daycare centers and parents can contact the "Central Information and Advice Center" (ZIB) of the health department if they have any questions. In structurally supported daycare centers, permanently employed integration specialists accompany the children and families and ensure continuous support. The program is framed by a guideline, an inter-departmental and inter-office working group "Daycare for All" and a practical advisory board "Daycare for All", in which parents as well as daycare center employees are represented. (for further information see downloads).

Contact:  Daniela Steinhoff

The KiFaZ program of the state capital of Stuttgart supports child daycare facilities that care for a certain proportion of children and families whose living conditions are particularly difficult, especially due to poverty and structural educational disadvantages. In addition, the KiFaZ also explicitly target children with disabilities and their families, as these facilities are very well suited to providing support and encouragement to children and families thanks to their open, welcoming attitude and networked approach.

The KiFaZ receive additional resources for services that create educational equality and include the families' social environment. All children and families benefit from the KiFaZ services, regardless of their living situation.

Currently, 35 KiFaZs from various providers are funded by the local authorities in Stuttgart. The 2022 locations can be found in the downloads. Since 01.01.2022, the daycare center for children at Freibergstraße 34 (Münster district) and the MOSAIK-Kita Rot (Zuffenhausen district) have been newly funded as KiFaZs.

The framework concept of the Stuttgart KiFaZ defines four fields of action in which special support is provided: Supporting Children - Strengthening Parents - Supporting Families - Early Support. For each field of action, binding standards are defined that ensure low-threshold support and enable help for self-help. An essential part of the KiFaZ work is cooperation in various areas, for example, with family education centers, health departments or counseling centers. The "Framework Concept of the Stuttgart Child and Family Centers" was created by the Youth Welfare Office in cooperation with the KiFaZ providers in February 2021 and published as a brochure (see downloads for web version).

Contact:  Christine Wagner

Language education, language training and language support that is integrated into everyday life and holistically oriented are central tasks in early childhood education. It has been shown that the acquisition of language skills has a significant influence on the successful educational biography of children and is thus a prerequisite for social participation and integration. The basis for this is the  orientation plan for education and upbringing (opens in a new tab) in Baden-Württemberg kindergartens and other daycare facilities.

In many cases, however, children from families with low levels of stimulation, children with developmental delays, or children with an immigrant background who are learning German as an additional language need more intensive support for their language development processes in order to improve their future opportunities. This more targeted support takes place within the framework of language education and support integrated into everyday life, both in the daycare center and in daycare for children, and is oriented toward the child's individual stage of development, abilities and interests.

To this end, there are currently three language support programs in which Stuttgart daycare centers and daycare for children can participate:

1. federal program Sprach-Kitas: Because language is the key to the world.
The  federal program (opens in a new tab) focuses on promoting structures in the early childhood sector with more far-reaching tasks. The additional specialist supports the daycare team

• in language education work integrated into everyday life
• in the further development of cooperation with families and
• in the further development of an inclusive pedagogy.

Currently, just under 120 Stuttgart daycare centers are participating in the federal program. It is limited in time until December 31, 2022.

2. administrative regulation of the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs for the implementation of the overall concept of reliably advancing competencies (VwV Kolibri)
The  state program Kolibri (opens in a new tab) supports language pedagogical work with children by promoting children with a more intensive need for language support in groups or - after consultation with the  Supraregional Office for Early Childhood Education (opens in a new tab) at the Stuttgart Regional Council - in organizational formats integrated into everyday life as a special form. With the entry into force of the VwV Kolibri since 01.08.2019, suitable language support measures can also be carried out in child day care centers in other suitable rooms.

At the same time, the state program offers an orientation framework for the qualitative implementation of language support.

3. funding principles of the Youth Welfare Office of the City of Stuttgart for the granting of municipal subsidies for the promotion of language support measures
The municipal funding program also starts with language support work with children. Stuttgart daycare centers with a proportion of 50 percent or more bilingual children receive additional funding for targeted language support.

Currently, around 500 independent and municipal groups receive funding. The municipal funding program is currently being revised.

As part of the school enrollment examination (ESU), the health department assesses, among other things, the language development status of all children, taking into account the pedagogical assessment of the daycare specialist, the information provided by the parents and the medical examination findings.

The corresponding data from the years 2009 to 2015 are published as part of the health reporting in the Child Health Report 2015.

There is an obligation to cooperate between youth welfare services and schools in accordance with Section 81 of Social Code VIII. Professionals in day care centers are required to cooperate with teachers in schools in order to ensure a good transition to school for the children (§ 22a Social Code VIII). The  Orientation Plan for Education and Upbringing of Baden-Württemberg (opens in a new tab) and the administrative regulation of the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs on the cooperation between day care facilities for children and elementary schools (VwV Kooperation Kindertageseinrichtungen - Grundschulen) specify goals, expectations and possible forms for the cooperation between the two institutions.

All Stuttgart elementary schools and the daycare centers located in their catchment area are obligated to cooperate. The aim of optimizing the transition from the daycare center to the school system is to strengthen the interaction between the elementary and primary sectors and to support children as they start school and cope with the changes this entails. In this way, the children themselves can experience the change as successful, which subsequently has a developmental effect on them.

The following quality features characterize a successful transition from daycare to elementary school:

• The pedagogical work between the educational institutions is coordinated with regard to the children.
• Future school children are provided with goal-oriented offers, for example, participation in lessons.
• With an individual view of the child, his or her level of development, strengths and developmental needs are known.
• Cooperation with parents regarding a successful transition of their children is established.
• Firm cooperation structures are in place between the cooperation partners
• There are inner-city support systems for cooperation between daycare centers and elementary schools.

In Stuttgart, joint recommendations on cooperation between daycare centers and elementary schools were adopted on July 9, 2013 with the title "Successfully managing the transition from daycare to school." They form a sustainable common basis for shaping the cooperative relationships between the two educational institutions.

In order to enable schools and daycare centers to intensify and systematically cooperate, the state capital is promoting pedagogical alliances at four locations and educational centers at five locations with improved framework conditions. The brochure "Pädagogische Verbünde und Bildungshäuser in der Landeshauptstadt - Kooperationsformen, Qualitätsmerkmale und Handlungsempfehlungen" (Pedagogical Alliances and Educational Centers in the State Capital - Forms of Cooperation, Quality Characteristics and Recommendations for Action) provides an up-to-date insight into cooperation activities, deals with success factors and stumbling blocks as well as future requirements in the field of cooperation between daycare centers and elementary schools.

For the daycare/school year 2020/21, the state capital will support three additional pedagogical alliances with additional personnel resources.

Furthermore, the youth welfare planning department uses funds from the quality development fund to support training and cooperation events on the topic of "Transition from daycare to school".