The French government provides several options for childcare financial assistance for children between 2.5 months until 6 years old.
Children are able to attend nursery school for free at the age of 3 during the day, but can qualify for additional assistance for outside of nursery school hours or for an alternative to nursery school. While most children enter nursery school at the age of 3, it may be possible in some areas to enroll a child at the age of 2.
If you need childcare assistance before the child is old enough to enter nursery school, you may qualify for one of the following benefits:
- L’Aide à la familial pour l’emploi d’une Assistane Maternelle Agr éée (AFEAMA). This is allocated by the Family Allowance Fund to hire a registered assistante maternelle for parents with at least one child less than 6 years old. The amount of benefits is between € 214.89 to € 328.02 per month.
- Allocation parental d’éducation (APE). This is given to parents that have decided to drop work or work part-time to stay at home to care for their children. You need to have at least 2 children, with one of them being under 3 years old. You must also have worked for at least two years during the past 5 years, or in the past 10 years if you have 3 children. Depending on if you qualify for partial or full assistance, the amount you would receive can be between € 350.92 to € 530.72 per month.
- Allocation de garde d’enfants à domicile (AGED). The AGED is an allowance for employing someone to look after children at home when the child is 3 to 6 years old. The benefit is limited to € 562 per month.
For more details on each type of assistance with information on what you need to qualify, you can view the following PDF from CAF: CAF Guide. The guide is only in French, however, you can paste the link into Google Translate in order to get a rough translation of the text.
If you are interested in applying for financial assistance, call CAF or URSSAF to verify qualification requirements and how to apply. As with most government offices, I recommend you call at least 3 different times to make sure that you are told the same thing. My husband and I have found that you tend to either receive different facts or not all of the facts the first try.
Bonne Chance!
Image Credit: Strelitzia at Flickr.com
Baptiste says
Hi, the CAF changed its website, the good url to the guide is now :
http://www2.caf.fr/web/Web292.nsf/090ba6646193ccc8c125684f005898f3/27574db46c35a1c3c125739b004438e6/$FILE/guide_caf_3.pdf
Also, you use my own website about childcare in France to know more about financial assistance for childcare in France : http://allocreche.fr/info/mon-enfant/
and says
Awesome article.
how to rank using google plus local hangouts says
Aw, this was an incredibly good post. Finding the time and actual effort to
generate a great article… but what can I say… I
hesitate a whole lot and never manage to get anything done.