January 15, 2019 – As part of the rotational change, the Association of Single Mothers and Fathers took over the leadership of the Associations of German Family Organizations at the beginning of the year. With their new chairwomen Erika Biehn as well as with Ulrich Hoffmann, president of the family federation of the Catholiken, as Vice chairmen, the AGF starts into the new year.
“The AGF has successfully positioned itself broadly in recent years,” emphasizes Erika Biehn on taking office. “In particular, in the areas to eliminate child poverty, the digitalization in family life, the quality in child day care, the AGF has made substantial contributions. We will build on this during our leadership and work to ensure that parents can trust in the needs-based and quality of care – regardless of where they live.” The chairwoman of the AGF also expects new momentum in the debate on the reconciliation of family and career: for example, the Work-Life-Package initiated by the European Commission is an important contribution that should provide new impetus at the national levels. In particular, Erika Biehn expects intensive discussions with regard to the rconciliation of care and professional work as well as the quality of childcare in daycare centers and daycare for children. Those should accompany the results of the report from the Indpendent Council on the Reconciliation of Care and Professional Work as well as the current so-called “Good Childcare Act”. “As AGF, we focus on the entire life phase of families. Families need good framework conditions for coping with caregiving tasks as well as for childcare. We will continue to advocate for both.”
In addition, the new chairwoman emphasizes the importance of cooperation between the associations “to intensify the synergies from cooperation, to develop further topics together and to include the diversity of family forms in the process will be the goal of our leadership.”
The AGF stands in a two-year rotation a member federation in a leading manner. With the turn of the year, the Verband alleinerziehder Mütter und Väter e. V., Bundesverband (VAMV) replaces the 2017-2018 incumbent Familienbund der Katholiken. The chairwoman of the VAMV, Erika Biehn, was unanimously elected as the new chairwoman of the AGF at the end of 2018. The Family Federation of Catholics e.V. (FDK), with its president Ulrich Hoffmann, now provides the Vice Chair of the AGF.