A surrogate grandpa from the neighboring village – the ideal solution for Kirsten

At the age of 8, Gerit’s daughter Kirsten H. is already at an age where she wants to have a say in childcare. "If it hadn't suited our daughter, we wouldn't have done it," says Gerit from Poing near Munich. The 44-year-old computer scientist works at metafinanz Informationssysteme GmbH as a project manager and is responsible for the "Claims" area, where she and her team develop professional and technical solutions for the insurance industry. She already has experience in looking for childcare beyond regular daycare places, as Gerit started working again part-time for 20 hours a week during parental leave, just 7 months after the baby was born.

My boss wanted to have me back here as quickly as possible with as many hours as possible," the 44-year-old recalls. "That's flattering, of course. But when my parental leave finally ended after 2 years, and the boss actually wanted me to return full-time, we initially negotiated a 25-hour week, later a 30-hour week." Kirsten's mother finds this ideal for her as a working mother: "I want to work every day, but not the whole day. Six hours is just right." The manager is very satisfied with the opportunities her employer offers: "In our company, there are flexible part-time models, and a lot is possible.

Theoretically, Gerit could cover her working hours with her daughter Kirsten's daycare and school. But because she has meetings outside the office as a manager and needs to be flexible, the H. family organized a "loan grandma" a few years ago. "That was good, but it was quite a lot of back-and-forth for Kirsten. The grandma picked up my daughter from kindergarten and took care of her at her home. And I picked her up in the evenings. We didn't want that anymore.

Kirsten's father works in aerospace engineering – he travels a lot, "We often find out at very short notice," reports Gerit. According to the computer scientist, due to his professional commitments, the father doesn't get everything from everyday life, and she mainly organizes things. And so it was Gerit who read on her company's intranet webpage in February of this year that her employer metafinanz had entered into a cooperation with famPlus, through which she, as an employee, can arrange qualified childcare, and that the company covers the costs for the placement.

I clicked on the link to famPlus, got activated, and filled out a questionnaire where I could specify my preferences." All of this, according to Gerit, was very easy. She particularly liked the large free-text field where she, as a potential customer, could express her wishes herself – as an IT specialist, she knows exactly that forms can't ask everything.

Shortly thereafter, the metafinanz employee recalls receiving a confirmation email that her request had been received. And two to three days later, she was contacted by a famPlus employee by phone to go into the details: "We talked for about 20 minutes to clarify things that you might not write in such a questionnaire," Gerit praises the approach of famPlus.

Just a week later, she received the suggestion to get in touch with a surrogate grandpa from the neighboring town. "Since famPlus has its own database where candidates can present themselves with a profile, we were able to take a closer look at him," says Gerit. For her, it was important to be able to read and explain to her daughter why the childcare provider is interested in this job. "I liked that he wrote it is important to care for children in their environment.

Then everything happened quite quickly: The babysitting grandpa, a gentleman in his mid-60s, was invited to the H. family's home for an afternoon introduction. They liked each other, daughter Kirsten immediately took a liking to the grandpa, and soon the H. family and Grandpa R. agreed on the arrangements.

He now picks up Kirsten from the daycare up to twice a week and takes care of her. During holidays or peak times, we plan it anew for each month and calculate precisely," Gerit explains their childcare solution. The H. family is very satisfied. "Our borrowed grandpa has even moved to our community now—before he was only 3 km away, but now it's really great. I think and hope that we can continue this way for a few more years," rejoices Gerit H., and daughter Kirsten is delighted as well.