Germany is enjoying record employment but only a third of the parents of the roughly 2.8 million impoverished children in the country have jobs, says the Child Protection Association. Image: AFP/Tobias Schwarz
Chancellor Angela Merkel touted Germany as a country 鈥渋n which we live well and happily鈥� during her re-election campaign. But those words ring hollow to the one in five children living in poverty in Europe鈥檚 top economy, with little prospect of climbing the social ladder.
It鈥檚 just gone 3:00 pm at the Lichtenberg youth center in east Berlin, where youngsters are laying out cherry tomatoes and carefully chopped cucumber as they get ready to prepare dinner together.
For many of them, the weekday ritual is an eagerly awaited moment.
鈥淲e notice it a lot especially among the teenagers, they ask us: 鈥榃hen can we eat? I haven鈥檛 eaten all day,'鈥� said Patric Tavanti, head of the center run by the charity Caritas.
Many of the youngsters鈥� parents often lack the money or the time to provide regular meals, he said, adding that the center aims to give the youths a space 鈥渨here they can feel at home.鈥�
鈥淚 come almost every day,鈥� Leila, one of the teens, told AFP. 鈥淲e chat, cook together and just have fun.鈥�
Downward spiral
In Europe鈥檚 powerhouse, the economy is humming, public coffers have never been fuller and unemployment is at its lowest since reunification in 1990.
Yet some 20 percent of under-18s live in 鈥渞elative poverty,鈥� according to the family ministry, defined as living in households that have to get by on less than 60 percent of the average German household income.
For a single parent with one child, that amounts to a monthly net income below 1,192 euros ($1,470). For a family with four children, it鈥檚 under 2,355 euros.
Despite record employment, only a third of the parents of Germany鈥檚 roughly 2.8 million impoverished children have jobs, said Heinz Hilgers of the Child Protection Association (Kinderschutzbund).
Beyond the material shortcomings they suffer, growing up poor takes its toll in many other, more insidious ways.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a downward spiral,鈥� said professor Klaus Hurrelmann, of the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.
鈥淭he children feel excluded, they start to feel ashamed when they can鈥檛 join in school excursions or invite friends over for a birthday party. They end up losing confidence in themselves and struggle at school,鈥� he said.
Falling behind at school
Tavanti, of the Berlin youth center, said it was a phenomenon he had witnessed first-hand.
鈥淛ust one of our adolescents is currently trying to pass the Abitur,鈥� he said, referring to the secondary-school leaving certificate required to pursue higher education.
He believes many German schools struggle to meet the needs of these at-risk children, who often come from immigrant families or single-parent homes.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing a growing need for food, but also for help with homework and reading,鈥� agreed Lars Dittebrand, who runs the Manna family centre in Berlin鈥檚 Gropiusstadt area, famed for its towering social housing estates.
Compounding the problem is Germany鈥檚 early-age education sorting system, critics say, which can prematurely put disadvantaged pupils on a less academic route, potentially leading to lower-paying and less secure jobs.
Decrying what it calls 鈥渉ereditary poverty鈥� in Germany, a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank found that just some three to 16 percent of households, depending on calculations, managed to cross the poverty line and improve their lot.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 how generations of poor children become poor adults and poor parents,鈥� said Hilgers of the Child Protection Association.
As well as being a stain on Germany鈥檚 conscience, it鈥檚 鈥渁 huge economic risk,鈥� he warned, in a graying nation already grappling with a shortage of skilled labor.
鈥淢aking their own way鈥�
Germany鈥檚 new government, a repeat coalition of Merkel鈥檚 conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats, has vowed to tackle the challenges by raising child benefits, offering more child care facilities and all-day schools to make it easier for parents, especially mothers, to work.
But for lawmaker Lisa Paus, of the opposition Greens party, those promises don鈥檛 go far enough.
She said Germany urgently needed to do more to support single parents.
鈥淧overty often starts when couples split up,鈥� she said.
Indeed, statistics show that 45 percent of children raised by a sole parent, usually their mother, live in relative poverty.
Some politicians and campaigners have called for a basic monthly income for children of around 500 euros for the lowest-earning households to help break the poverty doom loop.
But for a government determined to maintain a balanced budget, any hint of lavish spending is anathema.
Instead, Family Minister Franziska Giffey plans to introduce a law in coming months aimed at improving the quality of daycare facilities, with a bigger emphasis on early-child development.
鈥淓very child should be allowed to make their own way, regardless of where they come from and where they grew up,鈥� she said. CC
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