Childcare in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands childcare is divided into three divisions: Mom, Dad, and Childcare provider. Each plays their own role in the child's life. Although the expectations for each has changed over the years, many traditional roles still remain.

Mom

In the past the bringing up of the children was placed only on the mother. She was expected to quit her job to be a full time mother. In some cases if she didn't quit her job, she would be fired due to the strong resistance against mothers participating in the workforce and caring for their children at the same time. In the past 50 years there has been a change in the opinions about mothers working. Mothers are more likely to participate in the part-time workforce than the full-time work force. Part-time work is the typical Dutch solution for their childcare problems. The views have progressed from believing that only the mother can care for the children to realizing that the mother needs to work.

Dad

Fathers play a small part in the bringing up of the children. The dads argue that there are not as many options for part-time work for them as there are for women causing them to have work full time and participate less in the children's upbringing. In the past 20 years an improvement in the father's participation in the raising of the children is evident. They are participating more freely in their children's activities. Nevertheless, men's participation in family work is less than women's participation in the paid work force.

Caregiver

As views about mothers re-entering the workforce have changed so have views on non-family childcare. Child day care facilities are becoming widely accepted but the supply doesn't meet the demand. In 1995, only 8% of Dutch children under age 4 had publicly funded childcare and in 1998, 9% of the children from ages 0-3 were in day-care centers. After day-care centers the children go to pre-school, but childcare for children over the age of four is even less developed, with very few schools having a well developed after school services. Childcare expert, Liset Van Dijk, reports that there are almost sufficient childcare facilities. Presently parents attempt to place their children in childcare, but the waiting lists are long, sometimes the wait is over a year. Along with the wait, Dutch childcare is one of the most expensive provisions in Europe. The parents' next choice is informal care or guest care, but parents are not always lucky in their searches. Presently children between birth and four are placed in Kinderdagverblijf (nurseries), playgroups, Gastouder (host parent),Oppas (babysitter), Buitenschoolse/ Naschoolse Opvang (after school hours), Peuterspeelzalen (toddler groups) , or with childminders. Approximately 75% of two and three year olds are in some form of childcare. While parents are working, childcare fills the gap between home and work.

Types of childcare
 Number of users
(Number on waiting lists)
Daycare
 71,200 (22,821)
Half day
 24,500 (679)
Playgroups
 250,000
Childminders
 21,700
Out school
 44,800 (8,975)
Kindergarten
 189,000
Information gathered from Hans van Ewijk's survey.

Here are two helpful childcare links for Dutch speakers: www.kinderopvang.net and kinderopvang.pagina.nl

References For This Page:

Van Dijk, Liset. 1994. Choices in Childcare. Amsterdam: Thesis Publishers.

Van Dijk, Liset. 2002. Email received Tuesday, November 5, 2002. (L.vandijk@nivel.nl.)

Van Drenth, Annemieke, Trudie Kenijn, and Jane Lewis. 1999. "Sources of Income for Lone Mother Families: Policy Changes in Britain and the Netherlands and the Experiences of Divorced Women." Journal of Social Policy 28: 619-641.

Van Ewijk, Hans.2002. "Care Work in Europe: Current understandings and future directions" National Report, The Netherlands. Utrecht.

Vedder, Paul, Ellen Bouwer and Trees Pels. 1996. Multicultural child care. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.

The purpose of this site is to inform web users of the status of children in the Netherlands. We are not and do not claim to be experts on the Netherlands. This project was completed with limited resources and time. The site was designed by Lindsey Heines, Melissa Venture, Corey Penedo, and Dane Harbaugh as part of a collaborative web project for the first year writing seminar Children & Society at Tulane University taught by Professor April Brayfield .

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Updated December 13, 2002
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