After the first version of the Childcare Ordinance (KiBeV) was panned by GeCobi, politicians, and the public, the Federal Council sent a revised text out for consultation in autumn 2010. While this version is considerably better, it still has glaring weaknesses. We submitted our comments on these weaknesses during the consultation process.
We had clearly rejected the Federal Council's initial proposal for several reasons . Children removed from their parents were to be placed in the care of placement organizations, which would have effectively assumed parental authority. We also rejected the idea that out-of-home childcare would become a playground for bureaucrats, a view that was widely condemned by the public.
The present draft represents a significant improvement over its predecessor. However, we disagree with the Federal Council regarding childcare outside the family. It is fundamentally the responsibility of parents with custody to arrange for the care of their children. They should also be free to decide to whom they entrust their child's care.
Regarding the organization of foster care, we are deeply disturbed, given our tragic experiences with the fate of children placed in foster care, that the draft regulation makes no mention whatsoever of the employment of children and young people. There is an urgent need for regulation in this area. Furthermore, we firmly believe that foster parents need and should receive appropriate, practical training for their highly demanding task. This is a fundamental quality criterion for dealing with often "difficult" children and young people. If the state intervenes so drastically in the constitutionally protected sphere of the family and removes children from their parents, it must also ensure that the children are genuinely better off in their new environment than they were with their parents.
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