A place in daycare

From their first birthday until age three, children have a legal claim to a place in a daycare centre or with a childminder. From age three until they start school, the claim is to a place in a centre. Your local authority can explain how to apply, what it costs and what help is available if you cannot afford the fees.

In short

• Before the first birthday, section 24(1) ties the public duty to provide support to the child’s development or to the custodians (Erziehungsberechtigte). It is a conditional federal duty, not the same individual claim that begins at age one; Land law may provide additional rights. If the child lives with two custodians, each must meet one of the statutory grounds: working, taking up work, job-seeking, vocational or school or higher-education training, or integration benefits under Book II. The grounds can differ. If the child lives with only one custodian, only that person’s situation counts. The development ground does not depend on the custodians’ work. From the first birthday until the third, the claim is to a centre or a childminder, and the daily hours follow the child’s individual need. From the third birthday until school, the claim is to a centre.
• Ask the youth-welfare office in the town where your child lives how to apply. Registering your address (Anmeldung) does not book a Kita place. If you are on a waiting list in another city, check what you need to do locally. Your Land may also ask you to give notice a certain time before you need the place.
• Fees and application dates vary locally. Some private nurseries are outside the public claim; check the contract for their fees.
• Apply separately for a Kita place and for Elterngeld: neither application arranges the other.
• A child who attends grade 1 in the 2026/2027 school year or a later school year has a claim until grade 5 begins to 8 hours a day in a centre from Monday to Friday, excluding statutory public holidays. That is the cohort entering grade 1 from 2026/2027. Lessons and all-day primary school count toward those hours. Older primary-school cohorts fall under the needs-based offer in section 24(5).

What you need to know

Section 24 of Social Code Book VIII sets the national rules for early support and the claims that apply at different ages. A daycare centre is often called a Kita; the law calls it a Tageseinrichtung. Kindertagespflege means care with a childminder.

A child who has not yet turned 1 is supported in a centre or in childminding when that support is needed for the child’s development, or when the custodians meet section 24(1). This is a conditional federal duty; the individual claim in section 24(2) begins at age one. Land law may give additional rights.

Custodians are the Erziehungsberechtigte. If the child lives with two custodians, each of them must meet one of the statutory grounds: working, taking up work, looking for work, vocational training, school or higher education, or integration benefits under Social Code Book II. The grounds can differ. If the child lives with only one custodian, only that person’s situation counts.

The development ground does not depend on the custodians’ work. The hours follow the child’s need. There is no national number of hours for this age.

From the first birthday until the third, the child has a claim to early childhood support in a centre or with a childminder. Under section 24(2), the daily hours follow the child’s individual need; there is no fixed national number of hours.

From the third birthday until the child starts school, the claim is to support in a centre. The youth-welfare authority has to work towards enough all-day places for that older group. Childminding can be added when there is a particular need. Ask your local office which centres have places available.

Section 24(4) gives a further claim to a child who attends grade 1 in the 2026/2027 school year or a later school year. It runs until grade 5 begins: 8 hours a day in a centre from Monday to Friday, excluding statutory public holidays. Lessons and all-day primary school count toward those hours.

This applies to children entering grade 1 from 2026/2027, including a child who is in grade 1 in one of those school years. Older primary-school cohorts do not have this 8-hour claim.

For school-age children outside section 24(4), section 24(5) requires a needs-based offer in a centre, and the daily hours follow individual need. In the holidays, youth-work offers can meet the 8-hour claim, and a Land may allow up to 4 weeks of closure. See the school guide for the school day itself.

The public youth-welfare office, or the office it appoints, must tell parents what places exist nearby and what the educational concept is, and must advise them. A Land may require you to tell that office, within a period the Land sets, that you want the place. Section 24 leaves further rules to Land law. Fees, meals, and the weeks a centre is closed beyond that holiday rule are in that local law.

Under section 90(4), the public youth-welfare authority waives a qualifying cost contribution or takes over a participation fee on application if the burden is unreasonable. The law says this test is met when the parents or child receive the specified income-support benefits, or the parents receive Kinderzuschlag or Wohngeld. Ask the authority how to apply; the rule does not automatically cover every private-contract or ancillary charge. This page does not state a monthly fee or a city’s registration day.

What to do

1. Register the child’s address when the household has a dwelling. The Anmeldung is the address step. It does not book a Kita.
2. Ask the youth-welfare office in the town where your child lives about available places and where to apply. Section 24 gives you a right to that information and advice. If you are on a waiting list in another city, check what you need to do locally.
3. Match the request to the child’s age. Under 1, the federal duty to provide support depends on development or on each custodian’s situation under section 24(1); ask the office about any additional Land rights. From 1 to 3, the claim is to a centre or a childminder, and the daily hours follow individual need. From 3 until school, the claim is to a centre. Say which of those you are asking for, so the office applies the right subsection.
4. Check whether your Land requires notice a certain time before you need the place, and follow its published deadline. Do not assume another Land’s deadline applies or that a late application will be accepted.
5. Apply separately for Elterngeld if it applies to you. Parental allowance is money for a parent who is caring for the child and not working full time; it does not reserve a Kita place, and a Kita place does not provide the allowance.

Common mistakes

• Assuming every baby has a full claim from birth, or that one custodian’s job covers the other. Before the first birthday, section 24(1) ties the duty to provide support to development needs or to the custodians. If two custodians live with the child, each must meet one statutory ground, and the grounds can differ.
• Treating a school’s after-school club as if it replaced the 8-hour claim without checking, or assuming every primary-school child has that claim. Section 24(4) applies to a child who attends grade 1 in 2026/2027 or a later school year. For those children, lessons and all-day primary school count. Older primary cohorts fall under section 24(5). Confirm with the youth-welfare office what is still missing.
• Budgeting a national monthly fee. The statute creates the claim. The Land and municipality set local fees, subject to the financial-relief rule above. Ask the office that bills you.
• Waiting for Elterngeld to be approved before you ask about a place. The two decisions are made by different offices, on different rules.