If you are living in Finland with children, you might be putting your child into day-care because:
Day care in Finland has so far - been amazing.
Why?
1. The maximum fee you pay per child is 264� and some change.
This is 5 days a week - full days like 8am-4pm (our son goes from 8am-3pm).
2. You pay based on what your total household income is.
3. Your child is GUARANTEED a spot in day-care...it may not be the closest one (especially if you have a vehicle) but they do try to be flexible and get you somewhere convenient. It's the law that your child is promised a day-care spot.
4. They feed your child breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack -depending how long your child goes for in a run of a day.
So how do you know what you pay? Well, when you are confirmed for a location, you will receive an envelope filled with papers and forms in Finnish.
You need to fill out the form about yourself and your family and include a pay stub from each family member who brings an income to the household.
Then you will receive a decision advising you how much you should be paying and if you wish to appeal (if that is a possibility for you) - you must contact so-and-so within X amount of days.
The bill comes in the mail later.
Typically, if you and your spouse (or one spouse works and makes a lot for 2 people in their opinion) make a lot of money - I'm sorry I don't know the exact amount - you will receive a bill to pay the maximum fee per child.
Which is approximately: $334 CANADIAN. (Based on XE site and current rates.)
I've been told via Facebook that in Victoria, BC (Canada) - one parent is paying $1715.00 per month and another parent in Vancouver, BC (Canada) is paying $1900.00!!
That works out to be: �1355.00 and �1501.00 (respectively) per month.
CAN YOU IMAGINE paying that for only 1 child?!?!?! And many Finns have more than 2 children!!
Well, I got someone to translate my note I got in the mail the other day, advising me that I did not provide information - so we should be paying FULL price for V's day care fees.
Um, that doesn't sound right because I don't make "any money" other than the child benefit allowance which hasn't kicked in yet for my youngest child...and my husband isn't a millionaire or anywhere near it.
So I brought the form with me to the day care and the teacher kindly called this person and explained my situation.
I had filled in my financial portion as "stay at home mother"...they perhaps did not understand that meant "not rolling in money" mother.
They looked into things and decided I should pay about 30� or less...great!
And no other allowances could be find through the Kela system...hmm!
All I could think was, "WOW I am that rich and have no idea where the money went!! I WANT TO DO SOME SHOPPING!!"
I decided a trip to Kela was in order because I noticed I had not been receiving any maternity money for awhile now, as I have not received any receipts in the mail!
I waited awhile and when I did get in, the lady advised me that my youngest will be qualified for the child stay at home allowance when he is not in day care.
"He's not in day care though - he's not even a year old yet and you stopped giving me maternity allowance awhile ago. My oldest is in day care however."
"Ohhhhhhh....let me see..." she says.
We discover (after a phone call) that he needs the residence permit - okay fine. I'll get on that and can back date as far back as 6 months in child stay at home allowance.
(I thought the maternity allowance went for a year...but it's for only 9 months.)
The interesting point of all this is that I submitted a "child stay at home allowance" application when I was still pregnant with him, the same time I was applying for my maternity leave allowance...the lady told me I didn't have to do anything else and it would be automatic...
So much for that one.
*It is possible to get day care for free for therapeutic reasons or due to very low levels of income - please contact your day-care provider and Kela for more information.*
- You have to go back to work or study
- You need a break every now and again from your child(ren)
- You are having a new baby and cannot take care of the older child(ren)
- You need to spend time with the other child(ren)
- Your child needs it for a regular schedule (like mine does with his Autism) -
Day care in Finland has so far - been amazing.
Why?
1. The maximum fee you pay per child is 264� and some change.
This is 5 days a week - full days like 8am-4pm (our son goes from 8am-3pm).
2. You pay based on what your total household income is.
3. Your child is GUARANTEED a spot in day-care...it may not be the closest one (especially if you have a vehicle) but they do try to be flexible and get you somewhere convenient. It's the law that your child is promised a day-care spot.
4. They feed your child breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack -depending how long your child goes for in a run of a day.
So how do you know what you pay? Well, when you are confirmed for a location, you will receive an envelope filled with papers and forms in Finnish.
You need to fill out the form about yourself and your family and include a pay stub from each family member who brings an income to the household.
Then you will receive a decision advising you how much you should be paying and if you wish to appeal (if that is a possibility for you) - you must contact so-and-so within X amount of days.
The bill comes in the mail later.
Typically, if you and your spouse (or one spouse works and makes a lot for 2 people in their opinion) make a lot of money - I'm sorry I don't know the exact amount - you will receive a bill to pay the maximum fee per child.
Which is approximately: $334 CANADIAN. (Based on XE site and current rates.)
I've been told via Facebook that in Victoria, BC (Canada) - one parent is paying $1715.00 per month and another parent in Vancouver, BC (Canada) is paying $1900.00!!
That works out to be: �1355.00 and �1501.00 (respectively) per month.
CAN YOU IMAGINE paying that for only 1 child?!?!?! And many Finns have more than 2 children!!
Well, I got someone to translate my note I got in the mail the other day, advising me that I did not provide information - so we should be paying FULL price for V's day care fees.
Um, that doesn't sound right because I don't make "any money" other than the child benefit allowance which hasn't kicked in yet for my youngest child...and my husband isn't a millionaire or anywhere near it.
So I brought the form with me to the day care and the teacher kindly called this person and explained my situation.
I had filled in my financial portion as "stay at home mother"...they perhaps did not understand that meant "not rolling in money" mother.
They looked into things and decided I should pay about 30� or less...great!
And no other allowances could be find through the Kela system...hmm!
All I could think was, "WOW I am that rich and have no idea where the money went!! I WANT TO DO SOME SHOPPING!!"
I decided a trip to Kela was in order because I noticed I had not been receiving any maternity money for awhile now, as I have not received any receipts in the mail!
I waited awhile and when I did get in, the lady advised me that my youngest will be qualified for the child stay at home allowance when he is not in day care.
"He's not in day care though - he's not even a year old yet and you stopped giving me maternity allowance awhile ago. My oldest is in day care however."
"Ohhhhhhh....let me see..." she says.
We discover (after a phone call) that he needs the residence permit - okay fine. I'll get on that and can back date as far back as 6 months in child stay at home allowance.
(I thought the maternity allowance went for a year...but it's for only 9 months.)
The interesting point of all this is that I submitted a "child stay at home allowance" application when I was still pregnant with him, the same time I was applying for my maternity leave allowance...the lady told me I didn't have to do anything else and it would be automatic...
So much for that one.
*It is possible to get day care for free for therapeutic reasons or due to very low levels of income - please contact your day-care provider and Kela for more information.*
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