When Irena Schauk learned that her 14-month-old son would not be receiving a place in a daycare center in Berlin’s central Mitte district, the news disappointed the mother, but came as little surprise. The struggle to find slots at the Kita — short for Kindertagesst\u00c3\u00a4tte, the German word for a nursery — can be Sisyphean for working parents in some parts of the country. Schauk, 29, says she’d been hearing Kita war stories for years.<\/p>\n
“I had heard about parents outbidding one another and offering extravagant gifts to nursery managers,” Schauk says. She adds that several other acquaintances also received rejection letters — with one family finding a slot in an inconveniently located daycare center and another mother instead opting to stay home to care for her child.<\/p>\n
A new law in Germany that went into effect on Thursday seeks to improve the situation for working parents like Schauk. Under the new rules, all parents with a child aged 12 months or older have the right to a slot in a daycare center. Previously, the rule applied only to parents with children aged three or older. It also provides any parent whose child is denied a slot with a legal provision to challenge the decision, though some have warned the option could prove expensive and might not make a difference anyway — especially if there literally is no daycare option available in a community.<\/p>\n