Kappel in focus: Youth Welfare Office is planning to reorganize the daycare center and have fewer places!

Kappel in focus: Youth Welfare Office is planning to reorganize the daycare center and have fewer places!

In Chemnitz there is movement in the care of the little ones! On June 23rd, the youth welfare office of the city of Chemnitz invited the providers of daycare centers in the Kappel district to discuss current challenges and common solutions. Representatives from various city council factions were also on site to support developments in early childhood education. This shows that the demand for childcare places does not always match the supply.

There are currently seven daycare centers in Kappel that look after crèche and kindergarten children. The providers include, among others, Child, Youth and Family Welfare. V. Chemnitz and the Montessori Association, both of which play an important role in the offering. The Solaris Promotion Center for Youth and Environment gGmbH Saxony and the Saxon Social Academy gGmbH are also key players in this area.

Overcapacities and solutions

During the consultation it was also found that there is an excess capacity of childcare places in relation to the births of children living there. A clear need for action that the youth welfare office and the providers now want to address. The goal is to reduce around 150 childcare places and improve the use of existing infrastructure. The Solaris Support Center's proposal for a change concept envisages the redesign of the “Kappelino” children's home in order to offer more after-school places in the future.

What is particularly relevant is that three facilities already have after-school care places for students from the Valentina Tereschkowa primary school and the Dr. Salvador Allende Elementary School ready. But the spatial situation at the Valentina Tereschkowa Elementary School is tense. Qualitative limitations in after-school care are foreseeable, which is why plans to reduce the number of childcare places for crèche and kindergarten children and at the same time create additional after-school places are being pushed forward.

The daycare needs plan

For the coming years, the daycare needs plan has additional after-school places in its sights until 2025, especially since the Valentina Tereschkowa primary school will be expanded in three stages from 2026. From January 1, 2026, places will be available in the “Glückskäfer” children’s and family center for a total of 22 children of crèche and kindergarten age. In the summer of 2026, another 22 children will leave the “Kappelino” children’s home, which will further change the situation.

In the long term, 56 childcare places for crèche and kindergarten children will be retained in Kappel, while the rooms and outdoor areas in the children's house will be redesigned to enable the care of after-school children from up to six primary school classes from the 2026/27 school year. Great attention is therefore paid to the ideas and suggestions of the youth welfare office.

Some of the key points of the German daycare system emphasize how important the different types of sponsorship are for the development and needs of children. The difference between public and independent providers is important here, as the youth welfare office at the local level assumes public responsibility, while independent providers, often in the form of clubs or organizations, represent a large part of the care offerings. The aim of early childhood education is to promote the child's development and to support parents in their working lives. This holistic funding mandate is a strength of the German childcare system, as dji.de highlights.

These developments in Chemnitz show that there is a lot going on in the area of ​​early childhood education. The city council will decide on the new daycare needs plan in the 4th quarter of 2025, and we can be excited to see what progress can be expected then. So it remains to be seen how the offerings in Kappel will develop and adapt to the needs of families.