Elderly Policy (Germany)
The old policy in Germany , and senior policy, the policy area, which focuses on the role and importance of older people in society is. In addition to social policy, it is part of elderly care . The demographic change with an increasing proportion of older people in the population makes a more intensive old age policy more urgent for the political parties . Their practical and financial implementation lies with the federal states and the municipalities .
Senior Policy and Social Responsibility
Every society that directs its policies towards the well-being of its fellow human beings has a social responsibility . The family, which includes the elderly, is under the express protection of the state. Derived from this fundamental right , this means that the state also bears a social responsibility in the exercise of its duty of care for the elderly, who make a significant contribution to the development and maintenance of society.
Development of politics for the elderly in Germany
Until well into the 20th century, the Christian churches dominated the institutions for elderly care. An independent and trend-setting policy for the elderly, dictated by politics, developed much later. With the support of wealthy citizens and industrialists , civic hospices and old people's homes were built parallel to the charitable houses . At the same time, cooperatives and journeyman's associations took on care for the elderly and the poor, thus rounding off the social responsibility for the elderly.
Only after the end of the German Empire and the beginning of the Weimar Republic did the state take on more responsibility for social policy, which also included pension provision . So it was the "Reich Ordinance on Duty of Care", which looked after impoverished small pensioners and stood up for the well-being of the elderly and took care of them. In the Third Reich , the "old and sick national comrade had to take a back seat to those others who were genetically more important and therefore more valuable for the future of the people"
The former Federal Minister for Youth, Family, Women and Health Ursula Lehr was the initiator of a policy for the elderly. She recognized early on that the age gap had widened to the disadvantage of the younger generation and that the gap between the generations would change significantly.
Elderly Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany after 1945
After the Second World War and the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany , care for the elderly changed. An increase in the number of social laws and ordinances led to an increase in the requirements for senior citizens policy. Initially, the Federal Republic of Germany was involved in a so-called "distribution policy". That means that the people needed food , clothing , living space and work . Here it was necessary to distribute and manage, there was still no room for a balanced policy on the elderly.
Seniors Ministry
See main article: Federal Ministry for the Family, Seniors, Women and Youth
A ministry for family development was only established in 1953 with the Federal Ministry for Family Issues, which was transformed into the Federal Ministry for Family and Youth Issues in 1957 and reclassified to the Federal Ministry for Family and Youth in 1963. The ministry was renamed several times and entrusted with further tasks, adapted to the respective political and party situations. After an extensive grouping of different areas, the ministry was finally named the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth in 1994. Thus the government placed the elderly on the same level as the family , women and youth and at the same time claims an independent and effective policy on the elderly. With regard to ministerial senior policy , the ministry promotes and develops projects and programs, submits draft laws and operates European cooperation in senior policy.
Federal Old Age Plan
In 1992, the Seniors Ministry presented a federal old age plan for the first time - and others followed ; it represents a central funding plan and shows perspectives. The federal old age plan, which is based on an international campaign for age issues, is the planning basis also for the federal states and municipalities, which have to create the fiscal basis and finance practical elderly care.
Elderly report
See main article: Elderly Report
The reports on the elderly presented by the Federal Government present the "situation of the older generation in the Federal Republic"; seven reports have been published since 1993. The gerontologist and Federal Minister for Youth, Family, Women and Health Ursula Lehr gave the impetus for a report on the elderly in 1989. She initiated a new way of thinking and acting in the politics of the elderly and provided information about the upcoming demographic change. The report on the elderly is drawn up by a commission of experts convened by the responsible minister.
Seniors and parties
Seniors Union CDU
Assuming that in the near future a third of the eligible voters , which corresponds to approximately 4.2 million potential voters, will be over sixty years old in Germany, political parties founded “groups of the elderly” with which a greater shared responsibility of the elderly should be promoted. However, they initially only served the senior groups with coffee and cake and offered excursions . With the higher demands on the party-oriented elderly policy, the demand arose to shape "politics with the elderly instead of for the elderly" (SPD). In order to transform the party-political demands into the population, some parties had set up independent senior citizens' offices. The social wards later developed from this idea, where the elderly can seek advice on old-age provision. Today, the sponsors of these stations are the municipalities, senior citizens' initiatives or charities .
Senior citizens' representatives, senior citizens' councils and senior citizens' organizations
There is no legal basis for cities and municipalities to set up senior citizens' councils or senior representatives . This also means that the old age policy measures demanded by parties cannot find their way into the city parliaments. With exceptions, matters for older citizens are handled by the city administration or a social holding company . In cities and municipalities in which senior citizens' representatives are permitted, there are different organizational forms, compositions and options for participation . As a rule, the senior citizens have an advisory role, but people can also be appointed as “competent citizens” in a city council from the senior citizens' committees, thus obtaining the position of honorary city council. So that senior citizens can give their political demands more emphasis, in some federal states they have merged from the individual urban senior representatives to form state senior representatives.
Around 120 associations and clubs that are supported by older people or that are committed to the interests of the elderly are brought together in the Federal Working Group of Senior Citizens' Organizations (BAGSO), a non-partisan and non-denominational umbrella organization that promotes the interests of older generations towards society, politics and Represents business.
Elderly policy today
The extended spectrum of geriatric policy today also includes geriatric care, which in turn is divided into the following areas: Open geriatric care, outpatient care for the elderly, partial inpatient care for the elderly and care for the elderly according to the Federal Social Welfare Act (BSHG). Experts and associations are constantly warning of the consequences of aging , but the policy on the elderly has still not achieved the awareness of the “responsible persons” and is lagging behind the requirements of a modern policy on the elderly. The item “old age” is becoming an important component, not only for Germany, but also for Europe. “Age creates work” and will be a source of new jobs and an intensive senior policy in the future.
literature
- All about age. Kuratorium Deutsche Altenhilfe. CH Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-406-41326-9 .
- Karl Niemann, knowing for tomorrow - getting older and experience. Karl Niemann, Düsseldorf 1966, ISBN 3-932039-00-9 .
- Horst W. Opaschowski: The Moses Principle - The 10th Commandments of the 21st Century. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2006, ISBN 3-579-06947-0 .
- Horst W. Opaschowski: Life between must and leisure, the older generation: Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. DIT German Investment Trust, Frankfurt 1998, ISBN 3-924865-30-2 .
Web links
- Elderly Policy - Definition
- Bertelsmann Stiftung Moving People. Shaping the future .; Expert commission: goals in senior citizens policy
- The Senator for Social Affairs, Children, Youth and Women: Guidelines for Elderly Policy
- seniorenpolitik-aktuell.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Basic Law Article 6 (1): Marriage and family are under the special protection of the state order.
- ↑ The family as a formative force in social life. In: Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (ed.): Compendium of the social doctrine of the church. Herder Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 2006, ISBN 3-451-29078-2 .
- ^ The social subject character of the family. In: Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (ed.): Compendium of the social doctrine of the church. According to the Christian understanding, older people represent an important school of life ... When older people find themselves in a situation of suffering and dependency, they are not only dependent on medical care and appropriate care, but above all on loving treatment.
- ↑ Aid for the elderly and policies for the elderly. In: All about old age. 1996, p. 51.
- ↑ Liberale Seniors Website liberale-senioren.de
- ^ Principles of a European Aging Policy. In: Life between must and leisure. 1998, p. 105.