Kita-Platz claim despite a shortage of skilled workers

OVG Berlin: Land must create capacity
Municipalities can not talk themselves out in the absence of daycare places with the lack of educators. Cities and municipalities are required by law to provide the necessary capacities for early childhood care, the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) Berlin-Brandenburg ruled in two currently announced resolutions of 22 March 2018 (Ref .: OVG 6 S 2.18 and OVG 6 S 6.18) , The Berlin judges thus contradicted the view of the Berlin administrative court, according to which parents can not enforce a Kita-Platz entitlement already in an express procedure.

Always eligible for Kitaplatz Image: Andrey Kuzmin - fotolia

In the two concrete cases, parents from Berlin's districts of Pankow and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg had unsuccessfully applied for a place of care at an appropriate distance from their home in an urgent procedure.

The country had justified the lack of capacity among other things with the shortage of skilled workers.

The administrative court had rejected the requests of the parents to assign a day-care center because of the missing Kita staff; this can not be changed in the short term (see parallel decision of 21 February 2018, ref .: VG 18 L 43.18, JurAgentur report dated 28 February 2018). In one case, the court also assumed that a kindergarten place "at a reasonable distance from the apartment demonstrated.".

However, the OVG has now obliged the state to provide the applicant parents with a day-care center within five weeks. The Berlin judges pointed out that the state is not only obliged by law to offer existing day-care facilities to parents, but also to create the necessary capacities. "Shortage of skilled workers and other difficulties do not release from the legal obligation to provide a childcare place that suits the individual needs of children who want to take care of their children".

In addition, the administrative court had wrongly assumed that in one case a day care center would be available at a reasonable distance. This is far more than 30 minutes away by public transport and is not on the way of the parents to work. fle / mwo