Federal Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU) plans to shorten the eligibility period for the child maintenance advance (Unterhaltsvorschuss) paid to single parents. "Among other things, it is planned that the child maintenance advance will in future be granted for children up to and including the age of 15," a ministry spokesperson said on Sunday in response to an inquiry in Berlin. The Greens and the German Children's Fund (Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk) criticized the plans.
Prien intends to "present a draft bill to reform the Child Maintenance Advance Act in the near future," the ministry spokesperson explained. The background to this is the savings targets set for the federal budget. "Spending on the child maintenance advance has quadrupled since the 2017 reform, and the benefit has become one of the largest cost factors for municipalities," the spokesperson said.
He emphasized that, despite the cuts, it remains the government's goal to reliably support single parents, "particularly those with younger children, where the burden of care is especially high." At the same time, "the recovery of maintenance payments is to be improved, so that parents who fail to pay maintenance are held more consistently accountable." As a rule, this concerns fathers.
Under current law, since the 2017 reform, there has generally been an entitlement to the child maintenance advance until a child turns 18, provided the parent obligated to pay maintenance fails to meet their obligations, is unknown, or has died. The ministry pointed out that before this reform, the benefit was only granted until a child's twelfth birthday and, in general, for a maximum of 72 months.
Greens parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann sharply criticized the ministry's plans in comments to the news agency AFP. "We are constantly confronted with new cutback plans from the CDU/CSU and SPD: the child maintenance advance, parental allowance, or the 25-euro immediate child supplement to support children in poverty," she said. It always affects "the same people: single parents, families, and children."
The federal government apparently "has nothing left over for families and children, otherwise it would not make such decisions," Haßelmann told AFP. Money is available, however, for restaurant tax relief, the mothers' pension, or discounted flight tickets, she said. "The coalition is setting the wrong priorities and trying to fix its budget gaps on the backs of families, single parents, and children," Haßelmann accused the government.
The German Children's Fund also voiced criticism. It called for "sweeping reforms in favor of children and young people," instead of "cuts affecting those who already have little." The federal government, states, and municipalities must "pull together and, contrary to the current plans, create additional financial leeway so that child poverty in Germany can be significantly reduced and the social infrastructure as a whole can be massively strengthened," said Children's Fund spokesperson Uwe Kamp.
Significantly more funding must be allocated to public infrastructure, education, the prevention and combating of child poverty, greater media literacy, and addressing the shortage of skilled workers in the education system, he explained.
Since January 2025, the child maintenance advance has amounted to 227 euros per month for children up to age five, 299 euros per month for children aged six to eleven, and 394 euros per month for children aged twelve to seventeen. Any maintenance payments actually received are deducted from this amount. The news agency KNA was first to report on the Family Ministry's plans.
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