
Choosing the right childcare for a pre-school age child is an important and difficult decision.
Ten weeks of paid maternity leave is allowed for working mothers, extended to 18 weeks if it is the third or more child. So anyone who plans to go back to work must find care.
This can be formal and paid; either in a crèche, with a childminder (assistante maternelle) or a nanny in your home, or informal (family, often a grandparent, a friend or one of the parents who will stay at home).
The latest figures from a study by the Observatoire National de la Petite Enfance de la Cnaf (Caisse nationale des allocations familiales), show that in 2015, 56% of under-3s were in formal care with the majority of those being looked after by an assistante maternelle.
Nearly half of children are not in a formal structure.
This can ...
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