Almost everything written for foreign parents about German childcare tells you the vocabulary. Very little tells you the order things happen in, which is the part that actually goes wrong.
So: the process first.
The shape of it
One. You have a legal entitlement to a childcare place from your child's first birthday. It has existed since August 2013, it is written into the child and youth services law, and parents have gone to court over it and won. Cities take it seriously because losing costs them money.
Two. It is a right to a place. Not to the Kita on your street, not to your preferred hours, and not necessarily to somewhere you would choose. In a tight city the place you are offered may be three U-Bahn stops away.
Three. Nobody allocates it to you. You have to find it, and in most cities you are competing with everyone else who had a baby that year.
Four. So you start while pregnant. This is the single thing that surprises new arrivals most, and it is not an exaggeration: many urban Kitas accept a Voranmeldung with nothing more than a due date.
The two systems
Which one you are in depends on your city, and it changes what your first phone call is.
Der Kita-Gutschein: the voucher system, used in Berlin, Hamburg and elsewhere. You apply to the Jugendamt first, they assess how many hours you are entitled to, and they issue a voucher. Only then do you go looking for a Kita that will accept it. Applying for the voucher too late is a common and expensive mistake.
Die Bedarfsbescheinigung: the document proving how much care you need, usually because both parents work or study. It is what determines the hours on your voucher.
In cities without vouchers you apply directly, or through a central portal, and the Kita itself decides. Either way the application is a Anmeldung, and the earlier informal one is a Voranmeldung.
The words for the places themselves
die Kita: short for Kindertagesstätte, and the umbrella term for the whole thing.
die Krippe: the section for children under three. Sometimes a separate institution.
der Kindergarten: strictly, the section for three to six. In everyday speech Germans use Kita for both, so the distinction matters mainly on forms.
die Kindertagespflege: childminding, care in a private home rather than an institution. The carer is a Tagesmutter or Tagesvater. It counts fully towards your legal entitlement, and in a tight market it is often the faster route.
der Träger: the organisation running the Kita, and one of the most useful words here. A Kita can be kommunal (run by the city), kirchlich (church, and the two big churches run a great many), freigemeinnützig (a non-profit) or an Elterninitiative, which is a parent-run cooperative where families are expected to contribute real work.
The words for the paperwork
der Betreuungsvertrag: the care contract you sign with the Kita once you have a place. Read the notice period.
der Betreuungsumfang: how many hours per day you are entitled to and have contracted for. Usually expressed as a band, such as Teilzeit or Ganztags.
die Warteliste: the waiting list. Ask where you are on it, and ask again in three months.
die Zusage / die Absage: the offer and the rejection. Both usually arrive by email and both are worth answering promptly.
der Elternbeitrag: the parental contribution, the fee. It varies enormously by state, is often income-scaled, and in several states is now zero for the year before school.
das Verpflegungsgeld: the separate charge for meals, which is not usually covered when the fee itself is waived.
die Schließzeiten: the closure periods. Kitas close for weeks at a time, usually in summer and between Christmas and New Year, and you need to know the dates before you plan anything.
der Elternabend: the parents' evening. Attendance is expected rather than optional, and it is in German.
die Erzieherin / der Erzieher: the qualified early-years educators. Not Lehrer, and the training is a real professional qualification. Getting the word right matters to them.
What to actually say
When you call a Kita, three sentences do most of the work.
Ich möchte mein Kind voranmelden. I would like to pre-register my child.
Ab wann könnte ein Platz frei werden? From when might a place become available?
Wie viele Stunden Betreuung bietet ihr an? How many hours of care do you offer?
Write the follow-up email in German even if your German is poor. It will be read; an English one may sit.
And what happens afterwards
Two things arrive on the other side of the Kita place.
The Eingewöhnung, the phased settling-in period, which is four to six weeks long and which nobody warns foreign parents about. It has its own article because it deserves one.
And school, which since August 2026 comes with its own phased legal entitlement to all-day care, beginning with children starting year one and extending a year at a time. If your child is small now, that entitlement will exist by the time they need it. The school vocabulary itself is in the article on German school for expat parents.
How to keep the vocabulary straight
Save the word with the stage it belongs to. Bedarfsbescheinigung means nothing as a translation and everything as the document the Jugendamt asked for before they would issue the voucher. Vokabulo Scenes hold that shape, and a free account includes three.
Paste the whole letter into Translate. German administrative letters are one long sentence with the key deadline in the middle. The sentence is the unit that makes sense.
Then let repetition do it. This is forty words used intensely for six months and then never again, which is exactly what spaced repetition is for.
The short version
Register while pregnant. Find out whether your city uses a Gutschein and if so apply to the Jugendamt first. Ask about Schließzeiten before you sign the Betreuungsvertrag.
And do not treat the legal entitlement as a plan. It is a backstop, and it works, but it works slowly.
Got a letter from the Jugendamt you could not parse? Put it into Vokabulo and keep the words. Free to start on iPhone, iPad and in the browser. 🧸
