“Whoever needs care wishes to be cared for in the family and in his/her own home. So family members that provide care must be able to reduce their own professional activity or interrupt it to dedicate themselves to the care of their loved ones”, said Elisabeth Bußmann, president of the League of Catholic Families, in welcoming on 6 November the proposals of the German government concerning the introduction of a period of leave from work for the family members of persons in need of care. “In Germany we need better compatibility between care and professional activity”, added Bußmann, pointing out that this “issue of social policy” has hitherto been ignored. “At the present time one person out of three – almost always a woman – is forced to abandon her job to care for a sick person, often without any prospect of returning to her job at a later stage. If we don’t succeed in improving the general conditions of domiciliary care, ever less persons will be able in future to choose to dedicate themselves to the care of their own loved ones, due to the demands of the labour market. A period of leave to provide care, akin to the period of maternity/paternity, would therefore make an important contribution to the realization of a structure of care that responds to people’s wishes”, concluded Bußmann.
