Daycare places for children from Ukraine available

Ein Kind spielt in einer Kita.

In addition to place in schools, daycare places are now available in Berlin for refugee children from Ukraine.

According to a statement made by the Senate Department for Education on Wednesday (March 23, 2022), 3,000 to 4,000 places will be available for Ukrainian children across Berlin by the end of the 2022/2023 daycare year. "We are focusing on integration right from the start," Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey affirmed during a visit to a so-called language daycare center in Berlin-Schöneberg together with Education Senator Astrid-Sabine Busse (SPD).

Daycare centers support children in language acquisition

Since 2016, daycare centers in Berlin have been expanded into so-called language daycare centers with the help of a federal program. Both the native languages of children with foreign roots and German are promoted there. "Language acquisition doesn't just start in school. It starts the moment a child comes into the world," Senator Busse said. This should enable the children to start school successfully.

Two Ukrainian children accepted at Schöneberg daycare center

According to managing director Gerda Wunschel-Gavlasz, the language daycare center in Berlin-Schöneberg has already taken in two refugee children from Ukraine - "completely unbureaucratically," she said. Three further children are currently in the process of the admission. According to Giffey and Busse, the willingness of many other institutions to help is just as great.

Additional alternative care options needed

According to the Senate Department for Education, all Ukrainian children who stay in Berlin for a longer period of time and are not relocated with their families to other federal states can be accepted in Kitas. However, since there are not enough places for a large number of arriving children, alternative care options are needed. To this end, childcare is to be provided in emergency shelters and initial reception centers, for example. At the same time, it is being examined whether and to what extent Ukrainian specialists can be deployed as support staff or language mediators for the various childcare options.