Childcare

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Childcare

Do you ever wonder about what happens to children in Greece? Well your about to find out!!

Greece has very specific childcare policies that differ from other countries in the European Union. Early childcare education and care are a major concern in Greece, which are seen through looking at school facilities. Along with childcare is the amount of child and family allowances which contribute to the problems with childcare in Greece.

Maternity policies

Greeks receive a a birth grant and maternity allowance
Maternity leave is a mandatory 17-week paid leave for employed mothers
After birth a mother's job is protected for one year
Women are also prohibited from working a night shift for up to one year following birth

There were also certain Greece laws passed for maternity leave for mothers who were unwed, widowed, and divorced parents. The law ensured fifteen weeks of maternity leave in the private sector and provided income for married women for these single mothers as well.

Parental Leave

Unfortunately, Greece offers the shortest period of parental leave in Europe
Either parent gets 3.5 months for each time of birth or adoption, this amount doubles for single parents.
A parent is permitted to 6 days a year of fully paid leave if their is one child in the family, 8 days for two children, and 10 days for three children or more.

Child and Family Allowances

Family allowances which include money for food and clothes for children, are based off of the order that children are in the family and also dependent on parents' employment standings.
Greece uses the Distribution Fund for Employees Family Allowances to disperse additional payment for employees with families.

Reduced income tax is provided for unwed mothers and gives working mother's a lighter taxation for the care her children until the age of six years old. There is also a law for a mother with three or more children, who would get a monthly allowance that equaled to one and a half times the daily salary of an unspecialized worker. Then multiply the number of her unwed children up to the age of twenty-five to figure out the allowance given.

School Systems

Compulsory schools in Greece begin at age six
There are two systems of publicly-funded education and care systems for children under age six
The two systems for children under age six are social welfare and education, which overlaps for ages three and a half to six years of age.

woman reading book to a group of three children

For further information concerning childcare policies in Greece visit: http://www.childpolicyintl.org/

Sources:

Columbia University. 2006. "The Clearinghouse on International Developments in Child, Youth and Family Policies." Retrieved October 29, 2006 (www.childpolicyintl.org).
Paxon, Heather. 2004. "Appendix 2." Pp. 257-259 in Making Modern Mothers: Ethics and Family Planning in Urban Greece"Appendix 2." Berkley: University of California Press.