Popular initiative "Family Centre for Adliswil"

Text of the initiative

The City of Adliswil creates and finances a permanent, low-threshold early support program for children aged 0 to 4, accessible to all families. This program includes in particular the support of child development, the counseling and support of caregivers, as well as information on offers in the fields of education, care, and health. It is intended to enable early detection of developmental disorders and stress risks. The program increases educational opportunities and offers an important contribution to health prevention.

The City of Adliswil ensures a needs-oriented design, sufficient personnel and financial resources, a long-term anchoring of the program, and thus closes existing supply gaps.

Reasoning

On June 3, 2026, the Adliswil Grand Municipal Council rejected the continuation of the municipal family center by an extremely narrow margin. The city of Adliswil is therefore not adequately fulfilling its mandate towards families with young children.

The Canton of Zurich explicitly states that municipalities play a central role in the early support of children. They should strengthen families by providing preventive offers, networking actors, and closing supply gaps.

Early support is not a voluntary additional service, but part of a forward-looking and responsible population supply.

Despite this importance, there is a gap in Adliswil: there is a lack of a centrally accessible offer that combines early support, parent counseling, and information exchange for families with children aged 0 to 4. As a result, an important part of municipal family and child policy remains insufficiently covered.

A family-friendly city must not leave families to their own devices, especially in the first years of their children's lives. Anyone who takes equal opportunities and child protection seriously must reach families early on and support them professionally. Early support has a preventive effect and can reduce later social, health, and school problems. Investments in early childhood are therefore not only sensible in terms of family and social policy, but also economically necessary.