Frankfurt Has No Kita Voucher: How kindernetfrankfurt.de and the Points System Actually Work
Frankfurt does not issue a Berlin-style voucher before you can approach a Kita. Instead, everything runs through one free online portal, kindernetfrankfurt.de, where you register your child's care need (Bedarfsanmeldung) and can browse and shortlist specific facilities yourself. When you can register depends on the care type: Krippe, Krabbelstube, and Kindertagespflege (childminders) can only be registered after the child is born, Kindergarten registration opens at 18 months old, and Hort or Erweiterte Schulische Betreuung (after-school care) can be registered as early as 18 months before the desired start date. A third-party parent guide suggests registering by December 31 of the year before the desired Kita year, or at least 6 months ahead, though this isn't stated as a hard legal deadline on the city's own pages. Crucially, submitting earlier within the open window doesn't move you up a queue: the city confirms that the date your application arrives makes no difference, placement instead follows a points system based on legally required criteria (parental employment or training status, single custody, receipt of SGB II benefits, a child's documented special needs) plus additional criteria each facility's operator can add on top. The city has confirmed this points system exists but has not published the exact point values, and parents have publicly complained about getting little visibility into where their application stands. Once a facility has a spot that matches your profile, you're notified by email, you sign the contract directly with the Kita, and the facility reports that back into the system. If you hit a language or technical barrier, the free Infobörse Kindertagesbetreuung will register you by phone or in person.
The Official Rule
Frankfurt doesn’t run childcare placement through a voucher you collect before you’re allowed to contact a Kita. Everything happens on one free, central portal, kindernetfrankfurt.de, where you create an account, register your child’s care need (a Bedarfsanmeldung), and can browse and bookmark specific facilities yourself. There’s no cost to use the portal.
When you’re allowed to register depends entirely on the type of care you need:
| Care type | Earliest registration |
|---|---|
| Krippe / Krabbelstube (nursery, under age 3) | Only after the child is born |
| Kindertagespflege (childminder) | Only after the child is born |
| Kindergarten (age 3 to school entry) | From 18 months old |
| Hort / Erweiterte Schulische Betreuung (after-school care) | Up to 18 months before the desired start date |
The city’s own pages don’t publish a single hard application deadline the way some other cities do. A widely used third-party parent guide advises registering by 31 December of the year before the Kita year you want, or at least 6 months ahead of your desired start, as a practical safety margin, but treat that as informal guidance rather than a legal cutoff.
One detail matters more than the deadline itself: the order in which applications arrive doesn’t affect your priority. Until the end of the registration period for an upcoming Kita year, the date your Bedarfsanmeldung was submitted plays no role in how spots get allocated. Instead, Frankfurt uses a points system, confirmed by the city’s education department (Bildungsdezernat) in a February 2025 report to the Bildungsausschuss (education committee), built on criteria required under § 24 SGB VIII: whether the parents are employed or in training or study, whether the applying parent has sole custody, whether the family receives certain SGB II integration benefits, and whether the child has a documented special support need. Individual facility operators (Träger) can add further criteria of their own depending on how they run their intake. The city has not published the exact point weighting for each criterion, stating only that decisions follow the circumstances of the individual case, a transparency gap parents have raised directly with the council.
Once a facility has a spot matching your child’s profile, you receive an email notification. From there, you sign a care contract directly with the Kita, and the facility reports that contract back into kindernetfrankfurt.de.
Photo by Ksenia Chernaya on Pexels
What Real People Say
The system parents describe underneath the official process is a genuinely mixed picture. On one hand, kindernetfrankfurt.de went through a full technical rebuild that briefly took the portal offline before relaunching with the current registration flow, according to Frankfurt-based childcare provider associations tracking the rollout. On the other, the same February 2025 report that confirmed the points system also documented parent complaints about the redesigned portal: specifically, a lack of visibility into where an individual application actually stands once it’s submitted. That combination, a functioning but opaque points system plus limited status feedback, is the most consistent theme in how Frankfurt’s process gets described by people who’ve actually gone through it, compared to the clearer (if bureaucratically heavier) voucher-first sequence in Berlin.
Provider association guidance for parents consistently recommends shortlisting more than one facility rather than registering interest at a single Kita and waiting, since you have no reliable way to estimate your own odds at any one location given the undisclosed point weighting. If you’re new to the city and unsure how to interpret the portal or hit a language barrier, Infobörse Kindertagesbetreuung, the city’s free childcare information office at Solmsstraße 27-37, will create your account and submit the registration for you, including for families without reliable internet access.
Step by Step
- Check the age window for the care type you need first. Krippe, Krabbelstube, and Kindertagespflege can only be registered after birth; Kindergarten opens at 18 months; Hort/ESB can be registered up to 18 months ahead.
- Create a free account on kindernetfrankfurt.de and complete the Bedarfsanmeldung with your child’s details and your care needs.
- Browse and shortlist more than one facility on the portal rather than registering interest at just one Kita.
- Don’t rush to be first. The date your application arrives doesn’t affect your priority, submitting a complete, accurate application matters more than submitting an early one.
- Watch your email for an offer notification. When a facility has a matching spot, you’ll be notified directly.
- Sign the contract with the Kita itself, not with the city; the facility takes care of reporting it back into the system.
- If you’re stuck, contact Infobörse Kindertagesbetreuung (069/212-36564, Solmsstraße 27-37) for free help, by phone, email, or in person.
Compliance Note
This page explains the general Bedarfsanmeldung process, the official age windows, and the points system as confirmed by Frankfurt’s Bildungsdezernat as of 2026, but exact point weighting, processing times, and facility-level availability aren’t publicly disclosed and can shift. For your specific situation, confirm current details directly through kindernetfrankfurt.de or Infobörse Kindertagesbetreuung.
FAQ & Common Pitfalls
We're moving from Berlin and were told to expect a voucher before we can even talk to a Kita. Is that true in Frankfurt too?
No, and this is the biggest thing to unlearn. Berlin makes you get a Kita-Gutschein from your district Jugendamt before you're allowed to approach any facility. Frankfurt skips that step entirely: you register directly on kindernetfrankfurt.de, browse facilities on the same portal, and shortlist ones you're interested in yourself. There's no physical voucher to collect first, and no separate youth welfare office appointment standing between you and the Kita search.
Our child is 14 months old. Can we register for Kindergarten now, or do we have to wait?
You'll need to wait a few months. Kindergarten registration on kindernetfrankfurt.de opens once a child turns 18 months old, not before. If you need care sooner than that, Krippe, Krabbelstube, or Kindertagespflege (childminder) registration is different: you can register as soon as the child is born, so those options are worth registering for in parallel if you need coverage before 18 months.
If the exact date we submit our application doesn't matter, what actually decides whether we get a spot?
Placement runs on a points system built around legally required criteria under SGB VIII: whether both parents work or are in training or education, whether you're a single custodial parent, whether you receive certain SGB II integration benefits, and whether your child has a documented special support need. Individual facility operators can layer additional criteria of their own on top of those. The city's Bildungsdezernat confirmed this points system exists in a February 2025 report to the city council's education committee, but declined to publish the exact point values, saying decisions depend on the circumstances of the individual case. In practice that means you can't game the system by submitting the moment registration opens, since the arrival date of your application makes no difference to your priority.
We've heard from other parents that Frankfurt's portal doesn't tell you much about where your application stands. Is that accurate?
It's a fair complaint, and not just anecdotal. The same city council report that confirmed the points system also noted that parents have raised concerns about the lack of feedback and transparency on their child's status, even after the portal went through a full redesign the year before. Realistically, budget for genuine uncertainty rather than expecting a live tracker: if you haven't heard anything after a reasonable stretch, contact the facilities you shortlisted directly, or reach out to Infobörse Kindertagesbetreuung for a status check.
What if we don't have reliable internet access, or German isn't strong enough to navigate the portal on our own?
Infobörse Kindertagesbetreuung, the city's free childcare information office, exists exactly for this. Staff will create your kindernetfrankfurt.de account and submit your Bedarfsanmeldung for you, either by phone or in person at Solmsstraße 27-37 (you can also walk in without an appointment, though expect a wait). Phone hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8am to noon, and Tuesday and Thursday from 8am to 3:30pm. There's no fee for this help, it's part of the same free service that runs the portal itself.
Once we finally get an offer, what happens next?
You're notified by email that a spot is available. From there you deal directly with the Kita: you sign the care contract with the facility itself, not with the city, and the facility reports the signed contract back into kindernetfrankfurt.de to close out your registration. It's worth keeping any other shortlisted registrations active until you've actually signed, in case the timing with your first offer doesn't work out.