Childcare in the Netherlands: daycare, playgroup and after-school care

Daycare receives children from ten weeks (after maternity leave) to four years, full time or on set days, and provides educational activities, play, meals and naps.

• Playgroup is intended for children from two and a half to four years for several hours a week, and aims to strengthen language and prepare for school, and is sometimes offered at reduced prices for low-income families through the municipality.
• After-school care (BSO) receives school children after school and in school holidays with sports and arts activities.
• The home childminder provides care in her home or yours with official registration (LRK) that gives an allowance.
• Choose according to the child's age, your work and your budget.

Search via sites such as childcare organisations' sites, Sitters and the classification in the national childcare register (LRK) which shows registered institutions and inspectorate reports.

• Visit several places and talk to the educators and see the atmosphere, the number of children in the group and the ratio of educators to children.
• Register your child early because waiting lists are long in big cities, and you may register during pregnancy.
• Ask how you will be informed of the child's news, the opening hours and what the institution does in holidays.
• And check that the institution is registered in the LRK because the allowance is not paid for unregistered places.
• And tell the institution about your child's allergies and dietary and religious restrictions.

Care fees are calculated by the hour and often range between nine and fourteen euros an hour depending on type and region, and the monthly cost may reach several hundred to thousands of euros for full time.

• The tax authority supports working families through the childcare allowance, a percentage of the cost according to the household's total income (a higher percentage for low income), and it is requested via Mijn toeslagen.
• The allowance usually requires that both parents work, study or take integration, and that care is in a registered institution.
• Report every change in income and hours or you may be asked to repay amounts.
• The allowance is paid to you monthly and you pay the difference to the institution.
• Review the updates of the government reform which aims to reduce the cost.

Institutions are inspected by the municipality through the regional health service (GGD) under strict standards for health, safety, educational quality and educator ratios.

• Each child has a reference educator (mentor), and the family is informed of the child's progress by a daily card or app.
• The settling-in period (wennen) is important: short gradual visits are scheduled before starting.
• You can ask for meetings to follow the child's development.
• If you have comments or complaints talk to the management first, then the parents' committee (oudercommissie) that represents families, then the complaints committee (Geschillencommissie Kinderopvang), and report serious violations to the GGD.
• Official bodies encourage partnership between the institution and the family.

Every Dutch child goes through a series of visits to the child health clinic (consultatiebureau) of the youth health service (JGZ) from birth, where growth is measured and vaccinations are given free under the national vaccination programme (Rijksvaccinatieprogramma).

• Vaccination is not legally compulsory but is strongly recommended, and some institutions may ask about vaccination status.
• For a sick child there are rules: he does not attend daycare with fever or contagious illness, and the educator is told the symptoms.
• In emergencies call 112, and for non-urgent matters the GP. Make sure the institution has contact information for you and for a substitute person and knows your child's allergies.
• And encourage outdoor activities and free play.

What is a kinderdagverblijf?