Accessibility

From 0 to 2 years old, young children can either be cared for in collective childcare facilities (collective crèche, drop-in daycare for example), or benefit from individual childcare services (maternal assistant, parental assistant for example ). Access to these care methods has a cost for families, which generally depends on the parents' income (collective childcare) or negotiated with the maternal assistant (individual childcare).

In addition, children under the age of three can also be admitted to pre-elementary school, subject to availability. Places are open for children from two years old in priority in: urban, rural and mountain areas, in the overseas departments and regions, disadvantaged social environments.

Group care structures

• Collective crèches allow the regular reception of children under three years of age:
  • traditional neighborhood crèches, located near the child's home and which have a limited capacity of 60 places per unit;
  • mini-crèches which welcome children under the same regulatory conditions as traditional neighborhood crèches, but whose premises are in individual houses or social premises;
  • company crèches, set up at the parents' place of work, with timetables adapted to those of the company or the administration. Their capacity is also up to 60 places per unit;
  • parental crèches, managed by the parents themselves, grouped together in a non-profit association, to take turns taking care of children under three years of age. The structure's capacity, up to 20 places, can exceptionally be increased to twenty-five by decision of the chairman of the general council, taking into account the needs of families.
• Drop-in centers provide occasional care for children under the age of six. They allow in particular to offer children under three years of meeting time and joint activity with other children, gradually preparing them for entry to nursery school.
• Kindergartens provide regular care for children aged two to six, out of school or part-time school. Conceived as being an alternative to nursery school, qualified staff (educators of young children, childcare assistants among others) offer activities that promote the awakening of children (physical and psychomotor development, awakening and socialization). Their capacity can accommodate 80 places per unit.
• The multi-reception establishments offer regular and occasional reception for children under the age of six. They frequently offer a combination of several collective reception methods: regular reception places (crèche or kindergarten type), occasional reception places (drop-in daycare type) or multi-purpose reception places (sometimes regular reception, sometimes occasional reception). Some of these establishments also provide both collective and "family" reception (see below): in this case their overall reception capacity is limited to one hundred places.
• Family reception services or family crèches include "maternal assistants" approved by the general council of the residence départment, who welcome children to their home for part of the day and go to regular intervals in a collective reception structure for different activities. These assistants undergo training which is organized by the Maternal and Child Protection Service (PMI), a départment service headed by a doctor and which includes staff qualified in particular in the medical, paramedical, social and psychological fields. This type of structure is supervised and managed like collective crèches. Their reception capacity cannot be greater than one hundred and fifty places.

Individual care structure

Apart from collective reception and family reception services, children may be kept with childminders, approved by the départment and paid directly by the parents. Each childminder must respect the number of children provided for in their accreditation, which is renewed every five years. According to article L421-4 of the code of social action and families, the number of minors accommodated simultaneously cannot exceed four including the maternal assistant’s children of less than three years of the present at his home, within the limit of six minors of all ages in total.

Law no.2005-706 of June 27, 2005 relating to maternal assistants and family assistants provides that "approval is granted (...) if the reception conditions guarantee the safety, health and development of minors (...) welcomed, taking into account the educational aptitudes of the person ", by specifying that the general council can" adapt the criteria of approval to meet specific needs ". The decree of application specifies these criteria, in emphasizing the availability of the candidate, his aptitude for communication and dialogue, his ability to take into account the particular needs of each child, knowledge of his role and his housing conditions.'' Generally, families address to the town hall to locate the structures present in their area of residence.

Hosting offer throughout the territory

The provision of childcare for children under the age of three is fairly evenly distributed across French territory (mainland France), even if there are significant disparities in the type of service offered:

-    In the Paris region as well as in the south of France - and particularly in the south-east - the offer is mainly covered by collective childcare facilities (crèches, drop-in daycares, family reception services, etc.).

-    In the rest of the territory, individual childcare services (maternal assistants employed by private individuals) are the most developed.

Furthermore, no départment is simultaneously among the best endowed in these two types of care; conversely, none have low reception rates in the various childcare arrangements.

Live-in caregivers

From 0 to 5 years old (excluding ISCED), there are two types of possible subsidies paid by the family branch of social security (Cnaf):

• Reduction of family costs by paying a subsidy (PSU, universal service provision) to collective reception establishments (crèches) which pass it on to families by calculating their financial contribution according to their income;
• Compensation for the costs incurred by families for the care of their child (ren) - by a maternal assistant or in a micro-crèche - by the reimbursement of part of these costs by the CMG (Childcare supplement) of the PAJE (Childcare allowance) calculated according to their income - but in a less redistributive way than in the first case.
• In addition, municipalities, general councils, employers (via collective agreements) or works councils can participate. Their aid is combined with that previously mentioned.

Other measures have been taken since 2018:

• National strategy for parenting support for the period 2018-2022: it aims to strengthen support for parents who need childcare and to develop projects with parents.
• National strategy for the prevention and fight against poverty: from 2019, it includes several measures in favor of nurseries, in particular targeted funding, family approaches and the mobilization of local actors.

Complementary measures to improve access

In order to develop the number of childcare places, several multi-annual financial assistance plans have been set up under the Objective and Management Agreements between the State and the CNAF (COG State-CNAF). , For example :

• Investment aid and tax measures targeting public and private crèche managers
• Installation bonus and loans for the improvement of places of reception targeting maternal assistants, who respect a national quality charter
• Family tax credit (CIF) for the benefit of companies that finance the creation and operation of childcare establishments
• Subsidy of childcare facilities by CAF (Single Service Provision and Childcare Supplement) to promote price scales based on families' income level

Admission requirements and choice of ECEC institution

Children under the age of 6 can be accommodated in a crèche or with a childminder from the age of two and a half months. Note that it is mainly children under 3 years old who are welcomed by these services, children being welcomed from 3 years old in nursery school.

The reception criteria are relatively similar in all municipal collective childcare structures - crèches and drop-in centers, generally. With a few variations, they are all based on:

• the age of the child;
• the place of residence;
• the registration date, with priority given to the oldest requests;
• the characteristic of the request (days, hours);
• parents' professional activity;
• the siblings already welcomed in the structure;
• multiple births;
• disability;
• single parenthood.

Income level is taken into account to calculate the financial contribution requested from parents. In all cases, to be registered, the child must be in good standing with regard to compulsory vaccinations (unless contraindication is confirmed by the presentation of a medical certificate).

Parents are free to choose the type of childcare that suits them, between group reception, individual reception and parental leave. On the other hand, from the age of 3, families are required to send their children to school in nursery schools (pre-primary) except in the case of home schooling or "home schooling".

Age levels and grouping of children

The minimum age for childcare is not set by national regulations. In practice, it coincides with the age of the child at the end of maternity leave, namely two or three months. In collective care structures, the age limit for reception is determined by the establishment:

• Three years in nurseries
•  Up to six years of age in daycare centers, kindergartens and multi-residential establishments

However, all three-year-olds are enrolled in nursery school, that is, in pre-primary education structures under the authority of the Ministry of National Education.

The method of grouping children in collective care structures depends on the type and size of the institution. The age of the child does not always represent a significant criterion for grouping; the criterion relates more to the psychomotor development of the child.

Collective reception structures are required to comply with the provisions of the Public Health Code (articles R. 2324-16 et seq.):

• one professional for five children who do not walk (children from 0 to 1 year old)
• one professional for eight walking children (2 year olds)

Since 2007, maternal assistants have been able to take care of up to four children under the age of three.

In collective reception structures, the care of children is ensured by a multidisciplinary team comprising: a director (childcare worker, doctor, educator of young children) and professionals (educators of young children, childcare assistants, educational assistants Early childhood). Other professionals (psychologists, psychomotor therapists, cultural workers among others) can intervene in this team during reduced times.

Organization of time

Opening periods of collective reception structures depend on the reception structure: they are defined by the administrator and the director, in consultation with the other partners (municipalities, staff members, parents, etc.). Opening periods must appear in the service project and in the operating regulations. There are no standards for the length and opening hours. However, as a general rule, the opening periods correspond to the school year (September - July).

Organization of the day and week

In collective reception structures, the opening hours are fixed by each structure: they are defined by the manager and the director, in dialogue with the other partners (municipalities, staff, parents, etc.). They must appear in the operating regulations. A summary of this local information is not available. It can be said, however, that the usual hours of collective care centers are between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. They are closed at night, on Sundays and on public holidays. Company crèches adapt their hours to those of the company.

Regarding the organization of the day - just as an example - the activities generally take place as follows:

• welcoming children in the morning (between 8:30 am and 9:30 am);
• educational activities (9:30 am / 11:30 am);
• meal (from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. / 1 p.m.);
• nap (1 p.m. to 2 p.m.);
• educational activities (2 p.m. to 4 p.m.);
• afternoon tea (4 p.m.);
• parents welcome / departure (5.30pm).

The so-called educational activity is mainly developed in the morning, before the meal. The afternoon is more devoted to free games or reading time.

In 2013, a reform of school rhythms changed the week from 4 days to 4 and a half days, keeping the 24 hours of weekly lessons, under the following conditions: the teaching day must be 5 hours 30 minutes maximum; the half-day of teaching must be 3 hours 30 maximum; the lunch break may not be less than 1 hour 30 minutes. Since 2017, Decree No. 2017-1108 of June 27, 2017 grants a derogation allowing municipalities who wish to return to a 4-day week.