Germany: second Day of Parent Carers

Germany marked its second Day of Parent Carers (Tag der pflegenden Eltern) on 24 October, coordinated by the Working Group of Caring Parents at wir pflegen e.V. This year’s focus was bureaucracy: alongside the care itself, parents spend a large share of their time on applications, proofs of eligibility and appeals.

Supporters wore two crossed children’s plasters and chalked the campaign logo onto pavements. There were local actions in eight cities, a theatre piece about caring parents, and a song written by parents themselves — much of it organised by the parents without central coordination.

The campaign’s position paper, written by caring parents and their organisations, sets out five demands for cutting red tape. It has been well received at federal level, with an indication that parts will feed into the current negotiations on the German care reform act (PNOG).

If you supported the day this year, please send us your actions ngansert@wir-pflegen.net — we would love to share them. And if not, we hope you will join us next year in making caring parents visible.

Position paper (in German): https://wir-pflegen.net/images/downloads/Tag_der_pflegenden_Eltern/261024_Positionspapier_Tag_der_pflegenden_Eltern.pdf
Instagram: @tagderpflegendeneltern