Day Care Expansion Act
Tagesbetreuungsausbaugesetz (TAG)
The Act on the Expansion of Day Care for Children under the Age of Three (Gesetz zum Ausbau der Tagesbetreuung für Kinder unter drei Jahren – Tagesbetreuungsausbaugesetz, TAG) came into force on 1 January 2005. The basis of the Act, with which particularly sections 22–24 of the Social Code Book III (SGB VIII) were amended, is the expansion of day care for small children under the age of three. TAG defines the duty to provide a needs-oriented offer of day care for this age group with specific needs criteria. The Act aims to create a total of 230,000 additional places in day care institutions and in day care by the year 2010, increase the quality of support and enable children to be provided with early support. In addition, day care is being expanded and enhanced by qualification measures.
The municipalities are responsible for the implementation of these provisions. They are obliged to present a binding expansion plan and submit an annual report on its progress. In addition, their financial burden is relieved by EUR 1.5 billion obtained from savings from the merger of unemployment benefits and social welfare.
A further aspect of the Act is to enhance day care by male and female child-minders as an equal alternative to the day care institutions. TAG stipulates that child-minders should be given better training in future and be checked for their suitability. In turn, they are to be provided with better social security.
The continuation of the TAG can be found in the Act on the Further Development of Child and Youth Services (Gesetz zur Weiterentwicklung der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe, KICK).
