The East German Child Care System

Abstract

This article describes the origins of the child care system in East Germany. Exploring the changes that followed German reunification and democracy, the authors specifically focus on the political interactions between the East and West and the unique child care situation in the reunified city of Berlin. Drawing on studies conducted before and after reunification, the authors examine the early care practices and caretaking beliefs in Eastern and Western families and in public child care, reviewing research on children's early attachment and adjustment. Two questions are particularly important: (a) whether patterns of early care in socialist East Germany adversely affected development and (b) whether the process of sociopolitical change itself introduced levels of stress that affected child rearing and child adjustment. Data from numerous studies suggest that the sociopolitical changes contributed to behavior problems and insecure attachments when parents had difficulty adapting, suggesting that preoccupation with their own problems, rather than the political system itself, was responsible for adverse effects on children.