The state has extended the current guideline through December 31, 2035, to provide planning certainty for service providers and municipalities.

• Construction projects (new construction, expansion, remodeling, and renovation) as well as
• furnishing projects (initial furnishing and fitting out of kitchens and child-friendly outdoor play areas)
• Measures for the digitization or digital expansion of child care centers and family day care, particularly investments in digital infrastructure for assessing language development, as well as other measures that support the digitization of educational work. Measures that lead to the digitization of the operations of a child care center or family child care home are also eligible for funding

In family child care, only capital expenditures that create new spots for children under three years of age are eligible for funding.

The purchase of land and ongoing operating costs are not eligible for funding.

The recipients of these grants are the municipalities and municipal associations, as the agencies responsible for public youth welfare (locally authorized youth welfare offices), which forward the funds to the respective service providers or family child care providers.

Funding is provided as project funding in the form of a grant under a cost-sharing arrangement or, in the case of family child care providers, as a fixed amount under a lump-sum arrangement.

• For new construction, expansion, and renovation projects—including initial furnishing—without the acquisition of land, and the development of suitable facilities of all kinds intended for the education, upbringing, and care of children until they start school, as well as the preparation and equipping of the property: 41,500 euros
• For new construction projects, including initial furnishing as well as the preparation and equipping of the property to secure spots: 12,000 euros
• For expansion and renovation projects: 19,500 euros
• For expansion and renovation projects intended to preserve parking spaces: 6,100 euros
• For renovation work: 12,250 euros
• For digitization measures, the one-time flat-rate subsidy is 750 euros per group at a child care facility or per home-based child care provider
• For family day care centers, the flat-rate subsidy is 650 euros per child (maximum amount: 3,250 euros)

The Youth Welfare Office submits the application to the locally competent approving authority, the State Youth Welfare Offices. After the application has been reviewed, it is approved, a grant notification is issued, and the corresponding funds are disbursed.

In the future, the application process will be handled entirely digitally via the web-based online portal KiBiz.web.

Information on investment grants for child care centers and family day care is also available from the state youth welfare offices at the following links:

https://www.lvr.de/childhood-and-youth/financial-support/child-daycare/expansion-u6/

https://www.lwl-landesjugendamt.de/de/unsere-handlungsfelder/kindertagesbetreuung/

Guidelines on the Granting of Subsidies for Investments (Child Day Care Investment Guidelines.

As part of the new federal child day care investment program, measures to digitize or expand the digital infrastructure of child day care facilities and family day care will be funded from 2026 to 2029, in particular investments in digital infrastructure for assessing language development, as well as other measures that support the digitization of educational work. Measures that lead to the digitization of the operations of a child day care facility or a child day care home are also eligible for funding. Digitization efforts at the operating agencies and within the administration of their organizational structures are not eligible for funding.

The aforementioned funding stream for digitization has been integrated into the Child Day Care Investment Guidelines to ensure uniform processing of funding under the child day care investment support program.