Childminder in Tervuren area?

[ffionsmummy]

We've just moved over to Belgium from the UK and are living in Vossem, Tervuren and just starting to get settled (!) I'm 32 weeks pregnant with our second little one, DD is 2 1/2 and having now sorted a gynae etc am starting to panic about what to do with DD when I go into labour! My parents will be coming over from the UK but there's bound to be a few hours to sort out while they get here......so (finally she gets to the point!!).... was wondering if anyone was aware of any childminders / babysitters in the area who we could get to know over the coming weeks who we might be able to call on on the big day? Any thoughts would be much appreciated!!

Your best bet is to get in touch with the British School in Tervuren as they have a list of babysitters (older children from the school). I know a family who lives in Vossem with a 17 year old daughter who would most probably help. Mind you, that's only any good if you go into labour outside of school hours!!!

Let me know if you want me to ask. Also, if you want to be added to our list of Belgian mumsnetters (used for gettogethers and sharing information), just let me know and I'll send you a message on here.

Welcome to Belgium!!

Thats great thank you - would be great to be added to the list of Belgian mumsnetters - the more info the better at the moment!!

Have you joined the BCT? link here. If not, I would hightly recommend it. There are lots of expats families in Vossem and Tervuren do the proximity to the British schools. You have time to make local friends, who might be able to help out. Us MNetters get together reasonably often, with and without children, so hope to meet you maybe, when you are settled in....

Second Porto's advice to join the BCT. Can't praise the organisation highly enough!

"due to" the proximity - my brain is tired this morning.

yep have joined the BCT and they have been great with info on hospitals etc, I'm just panicking about the childcare bit as it seems a lot to ask of someone you've just met, whereas we would have had lots of options at home - so feel a bit lost and thought if we could get to know a childminder it wouldn't feel like such an imposition?

I know where you are coming from, but I think the expat thing leads us to all help each other out where we can, so maybe not so much an impositiion as you might think. I would be most happy to help you out, but working ft, I can't guarantee to be on hand at exactly the right moment ;-) But others who can, will feel the same I am sure.....The BCT advice line should be able to give you some sources of assistance....

Do you have a Belgian mutuelle? They normally provide a service to have someone come to the home if you have a sick child.

In which hospital are you having dc2? If I'm on the way(ish) from Vossem to the hospital, I'll look after her :) .

Ffionsmummy - have sent you a message.

Thank you very much Portofino & Longtime, really appreciate it! We're planning to have DC2 at the university hopsital in Leuven as we were able to get an appointment there when we arrived. We don't have a Belgian mutuelle yet as wasn't sure whether it would duplicate the cover we have with DH's private health cover?

Is your dh contributing to Belgian social security system? If so, a Mutuelle is obligatory.

If your dh is paying into Belgian SS, here's a few things to bear in mind.
I know this is more to think about, but you may not be aware firstly about "prime de naissance" paid every time you give birth. It's worth several hundred euro. Then the Belgian child benefit gets more and more generous the more children you have, and currently there are no plans to remove it from anyone (like in the UK who will lose it next year if wither parent earns over 40k per year), it is not means tested. Both these benefits are applied to through your employer.

a little PS, now I have had a bit more time to surf the net. I really hope for your sake your dh is paying into the Belgian SS system and that makes you eligible for the special payment called prime or allocation de naissance, because I have checked the amount and it is ?884.47 for a second child. Child benefit called allocations familiales for a 2 year old and newborn is ?247.32 per month so is better than the ca. ?137 per month you would get for 2 children in the UK.

www.kids.partena.be/Content/Default.asp?PageID=17
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www.kids.partena.be/content/default.asp?PageID=19#f]]

Sorry a bit of diversion from the original post, but thought you might like to know you can be well looked after for having children here.

Hi natation thanks for this, I had a broad idea that the system here was much more generous than in the UK but didn't know the exact figures. Unfortunately due to the circumstances of DH's ex pat package, he is still paying NI in the UK as am I for the few hours I am currently working from here until I finish for my maternity leave in 2 weeks, so don't think that we'll benefit from the generosity of the belgian system!

On the other hand, you won't be paying the enormous sums of money that the Belgian government take in the form of national insurance contributions and tax!!! They can only afford to be generous as they take so blooming much in the first place!

Fair point longtime!

wish I had had all my kids in Belgium at those rates, but I suppose I would also have shed out a fair few euro in medical costs too.

Ok, so you are not obliged to join a mutuelle but you can do, if paying uk NI, but you can do if you want to. You apply for form S1 from HMRC in Benton Park, Newcastle who issue this form to UK ordinary residents temporarily working in the EU but continuing to pay UK NI contributions. We pay UK NI and Belgian SS too in our family, every year dh has to re-apply for this form and this year it took 4 months to come, then he hands it to the mutuelle who then treat him as if he is paying Belgian SS and he has the same refund and credit rights with the mutuelle. Sorry if this sounds complicated, it's not really that bad, worth it as a family for what we gain.

It costs us 108 euro for the year to be in a mutuelle and we claim back over twice that amount every year, as you get "credits" for sports activities the children and we do - it's a way of encouraging good health and avoiding having to pay out for ill health that they subsidise "good" activities, so even in this respect it is worth joining a mutuelle. For us another benefit is that the mutuelle covers by far the greatest costs of speech therapy for our daughter, it gives us significant reductions on sports "stages" for our children, full mutuelle refunds on dental check-ups, GP visit for 5 euro (after mutuelle refund), daughter broke her arm recently and the total bill for 2 hospital visits for cast and cast removal was just 10 euro (after mutuelle refund), access to cheap emergency care for children, if they ever fall sick and I have to still go to work. Dh's UK employer used to oblige him and us to be mutuelle members, as they do not cover us under private health insurance, but now they no longer oblige dh to pay to be in a mutuelle, he still remains part of a mutuelle because of the positive benefits. It's probably not at all high on list of priorities, when pregnant and having just moved country, but may be worth considering.

Anyway, I'm sure some nice mumsnetters or other mums will end up helping you out. Good luck.

I shall note the bit about a Mutuelle if dh gets a job here!

Be prepared for the high SS and tax rates Scary if he does. My dh has a tax break for me and three children but still 50% of his salary goes in ss and tax. And that's without the 21% VAT we pay on what we spend of the remaining 50%, ie all of it! Therefore he's spending 60ish% of his time working for the government. As he works a minimum of 11 hours a day (not including the hours he faffs around on his iPhone with e-mails etc), that's a lot of hours to be spending for no personal gain. He is self-employed though and that increases the ss contributions.

(Bitter, me?!?)

It would be a job where he currently works (iyswim) in the big place in Evere, so the tax and SS position are different.

That's good :)

Hi, i've just come accross your message when searching for something else. You are very brave moving here when you are 32 weeks pregnant - well done! We have also just moved over here from the UK, we live in Vossem too. We arrived on Sept 1st so it's all still fairly new. My children are older, our youngest is in Y10 at the BSB and so far is very happy. Hopefully you will have made some friends at antenatal classes or through the school but I just wanted to say that if you need help or just a chat, please let me know, it must be quite difficult for you and I have a lot of time on my hands.

flowerpot, forgot to say on the other thread, we also have a (closed, so invitation only) facebook page. Do you have facebook?

Hi Longtime, yes I have facebook, if you let me have the details, I'll send a frend request. My name is Vicki

Found you!