Grandmas are no longer allowed to look after grandchildren? – A Judgmental Consideration

Courts sometimes make strange judgments that leave some people shaking their heads, but also lead to incorrect conclusions, as in this example. Are grandmothers really no longer allowed to look after their grandchildren?

This is what the site “ Infidels Germany ” writes:

“BSG verdict: Grandmas are not allowed to look after grandchildren

And once again there was an anti-family court ruling in the Federal Republic of Germany. Grandparents will have to consider whether they can still look after their grandchildren in the future or whether the child should be left to someone else to care for them.”

The judgment of the Federal Social Court in Kassel with the file number B 2 U 2/17 R is based on a case from 2008:
A grandmother regularly looked after her one-year-old grandson.
Unbeknownst to his grandmother, he fell into a pool and suffered brain damage from the lack of oxygen and has been severely disabled ever since. The grandmother was then sued by the child's parents in civil proceedings for 400,000 euros. The grandmother now wanted to take advantage of statutory accident insurance, but it did not recognize the accident because the grandmother was not a recognized day care provider. After the Magdeburg Social Court and the Saxony-Anhalt State Social Court had already made this judgment, it has now been confirmed by the BSG .

Why exactly is accident insurance not liable?

You can read the exact reasoning on the BSG website under point 3 . Let's summarize it simply: In the event of accidents in places such as kindergarten or school, accident insurance automatically applies, but not if the grandmother is an "unsuitable childminder" looking after the children. Especially in the case of regular childcare, as in this case, it would have been cheaper if the grandmother had registered as a childminder (no special training is necessary).

Typical! Insurance companies are once again shy! Or?

Of course, this ruling is incomprehensible to many people. After all, a grandmother was and is also a mother, so why this distinction? Are grandmothers suddenly no longer qualified?

From the perspective of accident insurance, however, this ruling makes a lot of sense: at a certain point, insurance companies have to draw limits. representative of the accident insurance fund comments : “Then accident insurance would degenerate into national insurance.” The result would be sharply increasing contributions, as many more reimbursements would have to be made.

Is the grandmother now stuck with 400,000 euros in debt?

It should be noted that the parents of the severely disabled child were themselves against the grandmother taking advantage of accident insurance.
Reason: Then their civil lawsuit for compensation would have been invalid. Fortunately, however, the grandmother has liability insurance, so that, according to the grandmother's lawyer, it now covers the matter.

So are grandmas no longer allowed to look after their grandchildren?

Yes , of course grandmothers are still allowed to do that. In this respect, the heading of the page “Infidels Germany” is misleading and based on false conclusions. Parents just have to be aware that in the event of an accident, accident insurance does not apply, but only if the child goes into a “state-organized area of ​​responsibility”, i.e. either a day care center for children or young people or a recognized day care person takes over supervision .