KRFD Reception with Guests from Politics, Associations and Civil Society
With a festive standing reception and a ceremonial program accompanied by music, the Association of Large Families in Germany (Verband kinderreicher Familien Deutschland e.V., KRFD) celebrated its 15th anniversary. Two full days were dedicated to meeting one another, reflecting on the past, and looking ahead together. Numerous guests from politics, associations and civil society, members from all over Germany, as well as long-standing supporters and companions, accepted the invitation.
In her anniversary address, Dr. Elisabeth Müller looked back on the beginnings and development of the association while also linking this review to the current and future challenges of family policy. At the very start, she recalled a sentence that had shaped her both personally and in her work for the association: “You simply have to say yes. You simply have to say yes to what comes your way.” A guiding principle which, she concluded, has proven its value many times over the past 15 years of committed association work.
KRFD was founded in 2011 with a clear objective: to give large families a voice of their own. Not out of a desire for special treatment, but because families with three or more children are still too often overlooked in politics and society. “Large families need their own voice. Not because we want to be something special, but because we are simply overlooked,” Dr Müller emphasized. More than 1.6 million families with three or more children live in Germany—a social reality that still receives too little attention in public debate.
With a touch of humor, she described the association’s 15-year existence as being “right in the middle of puberty”: “No longer small, no longer invisible, but still far from finished.” Indeed, over the past years the association has developed into a recognized stakeholder in the family policy landscape—as a network, an advocacy organization, a think tank and a source of new ideas. Milestones such as joining the European umbrella organization ELFAC, hosting family congresses, establishing a professional office, launching numerous projects, and achieving tangible political successes—such as the introduction of the large-family card in several federal states—bear witness to this development.
The challenges of recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, were also addressed openly. At the same time, she highlighted how the association had drawn creative strength from difficult times—for example through digital formats such as Zoom and taskcards, new channels of communication and steady services for its members.
A special moment of the evening was the personal greeting from Felix Heinrichs, Mayor of Mönchengladbach, who paid tribute to the work of KRFD and emphasized the importance of large families for social cohesion. In addition, digital messages of greeting from Prof. Dr. Günter Krings, Member of the Bundestag, and Jens Kamieth as well as Jochen Klenner, Members of the State Parliament (Christdemocrats), conveyed their appreciation for the association’s long-standing commitment and its fact-based advocacy.
At the end of her speech, Dr. Elisabeth Müller stressed: “We are not an association of papers. We are an association of people.” Her thanks went to the many volunteers and staff members, the federal and state boards, long-time companions, the families themselves—and not least to the community that sustains the association.
Fifteen years, she concluded, are not an endpoint but a stop along the way. Or, as she put it: “So let us say ‘yes’: on to the next 15 years!”
The standing reception that followed offered ample opportunity for dialogue, conversation and personal encounters—very much in the spirit of an association that has stood for constructive cooperation, visibility and appreciation of large families for 15 years.