Maternity allowance

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Maternity allowance, What Is It?

In Wallonia, upon the birth or adoption of your child, you receive a one-time maternity allowance of € 1.582,21. This can help cover expenses related to your baby's needs. Convenient, right? In the case of twins or multiples, you receive this amount for each child. If you apply for the maternity allowance during pregnancy, you can receive it as early as 2 months before the estimated due date. After your baby's birth, you will automatically receive your monthly Child benefits without needing to take any further action.

Your Maternity allowance in Wallonia: €1.340,90 for each child

Apply for it on time. It only takes a few minutes.

You can already apply for your maternity allowance in Wallonia during pregnancy. If you do it on time, you can receive your maternity allowance as early as 2 months before the estimated date of birth!

Your timeline

Enter the estimated date of birth (DD/MM/YYYY) and your postal code next to it to find out when you will receive your maternity allowance and child benefit.

You are pregnant: file your application for the maternity allowance on time and you can receive it as much as two months before the assumed delivery date

Your maternity allowance will be paid out at the earliest on dd/mm/yyyy

The estimated due date of your child is dd/mm/yyyy

You are entitled to child benefit starting from mm/yyyy (you don't need to do anything for this)

Your child benefit will be paid for the first time on dd/mm/yyyy

Afterward, you will receive your child benefit every month

Application and Payment

Before Birth

In Wallonia, you can apply for the maternity allowance during your pregnancy.

If you do this on time, you can receive the maternity allowanceas early as 2 months before your expected due date.

To be able to pay your maternity allowance, we need a pregnancy certificate that states that you're at least 5 months pregnant. You can immediately upload this document when you apply or you can just send it to us later on. To help you, we will remind you to send us the certificate on the right moment, so you can receive your maternity allowancenicely on time.

After Birth

You can still apply for the maternity allowance after the birth of your baby. You are entitled to the maternity allowance up to 5 years after your child's birth. You can do this by filling out our online form or by sending the original birth certificate you received from the municipality (by mail or email) to your nearest Parentia office.

Who should apply for the starting amount?

Usually, it is the (future) mother who applies for the maternity allowance since it is paid to her.

Before Birth

If you apply promptly during your pregnancy, you can receive the maternity allowance as early as 2 months before your expected due date. This allows you to prepare for your baby's arrival thoroughly.

After Birth

If your baby is already born, you will receive the maternity allowance as soon as possible after your application or after we receive the birth certificate.

What is your current situation?

Twins or Multiples?

You receive a one-time maternity allowance of € 1.340,90 for each child. Just make sure the pregnancy certificate you include with your application specifies that you are five months pregnant with multiples.

Giving Birth Abroad

Various international guidelines govern the allocation of the maternity allowance and the Child benefits in this case. Contact Parentia for more information.

My Child Has a Disability or Condition

Please contact us so that we can determine if you are eligible for increased Child benefits.

What If Things Don't Go as Planned?

We understand how painful and impactful a miscarriage or the loss of your child at birth can be. Surround yourself with supportive people, and we are also here to answer your questions. If your pregnancy lasted more than 180 days, you are also entitled to the maternity allowance (send us the 'certificate of stillborn child' you receive from your municipality).

I Am Adopting a Child

In the case of adoption, you are also entitled to a one-time premium, specifically the adoption maternity allowance. As soon as you have submitted the adoption request to the court, you can apply for this premium. You are entitled to the adoption premium up to 5 years after adopting your child.

I want to take maternity leave earlier.

You can take 6 weeks of your pregnancy leave before birth (8 weeks in case of multiple births) of which one week mandatory. After birth you are entitled at at least 9 weeks of pregnancy leave

I am self-employed and want to take maternity leave.

As a self-employed you are entitled to 12 weeks (13 in case of multiple births). Three of them are mandatory. As a self-employed mother you are also entitled to maternity assistance;

Why choose Parentia?

Know more about Parentia

Manage your online file with My Parentia

As a parent, you'll find a convenient overview of everything related to the payment of your Child benefits on My Parentia (payment dates, certificates, changing bank account information, etc.).

Go to My Parentia

Assistance with your family administration

You'll find clear answers to your questions about your family administration with us and receive tips on keeping it organized. Your administration has never been this simple!

Go to Family Administration

A quick service and numerous ways to contact us

Any questions about your child benefit or family administration? Contact us via email or telephone or make an appointment for a video call or a physical visit in one of our agencies. Our experts are at your disposal.

How to contact us

Accurate payments and personalized advice

We ensure a punctual and accurate payment of your Child benefits every month and make sure you receive all the supplements you are entitled to. You can easily reach out to us for quick and personalized advice.

Calculate your child benefits

This is what our families are saying

Hafsa

8 months pregnant

"Very pleased about Parentia's services. Quick processing an handling of our file. The startbedrag was transferred rapidly. Kind and helpful employees. Great website with a lot of useful information"

Joeri

Affiliated with Parentia for 6 years

"I don't usually have a lot of questions, but when I do, I always get a quick respons! Thank you!"

Eva

Just recently affiliated with Parentia

"I only had to call once and this woman helped me right away. She told me exactly what to do. Already very satisfied!"

What Do You Need to Arrange Before and After Birth?

1. Notify Your Employer   

Do this at least 7 weeks before giving birth. Provide your employer with a medical certificate [link am I required to inform my employer] that specifies your expected due date. Once your employer is informed about your pregnancy, you are also protected from dismissal.

2. A Midwife and domestic help: Not Luxuries!

The first few weeks after giving birth can be quite an adjustment, and you can use all the help you can get. It's best to request a midwife and domestic help a few months before your due date, through your mutual insurance. A midwife provides medical guidance during and after pregnancy, a domestic helper can assist you with light household chores.

3. Register the Birth of Your Child

You must report the birth of your child to the civil registry of the municipality where your child was born within 15 days of the birth. You will need the identity cards of both parents, the medical birth certificate, and possibly your marriage certificate or the acknowledgment of paternity before birth. Sometimes, you can register the birth at the maternity hospital.

4. Inform the Necessary Agencies:

Your health insurance fund
The child daycare daycare so they know when to expect your child
Your insurer: add your child to your hospitalization or family insurance if you have one
Kind & Gezin

You're Moving? How does your child benefit fund know and what are the consequences?

Your child benefit fund luckily is not one of the administrative burdens you have to consider when you move! That's right, the crossroads bank of social security will make sure your child benefit fund is automatically notified of your changed address. Based on this notification the data in your file will be adapted.

Careful! When you move from one Belgian region to another, you will also be subject to the child benefit legislation of that specific region. On top of that, you will have to fill out a new application for family allowances. Even if you choose to remain with your current child benefit fund, you still have to file your application with their services.

How do I apply for my birth allowance?

You can already receive for your birth allowance as soon as 2 months before the presumed date of birth. So best to apply on our website as soon as possible!

Can I also apply online? Yes you can. On top of the written application, Parentia offers you the possibility to apply for your birth allowance online. Step by step we'll help you to file your application online easily and quickly. Keep your national number and a digital pregnancy certificate (eg. photo (JPEG, PNG), pdf, ...) closeby to complete your application. Don't have a digital certificate at hand or haven't reached your fifth month of pregnancy yet? No worries! Be sure to already fill out your online application and we will remind you later on to send it to us as soon as you are in the possession of a valid certificate.

How do I apply for the birth allowance? You can apply by sending us the application form, which you will find on our forms page, filled out and signed. You also have to add a pregnancy certificate, signed by your midwife or doctor/gynecologist. This certificate needs to contain the presumed date of birth and the number of children expected (one baby, twins or multiple birth). Pay attention! The signing date can only be as soon as 4 months before the presumed date of birth.

Once your child is born? If you applied for your birth allowance at our services, you don't have to do anything anymore once your baby is born. Based on your application, we will already have started a file (or a file was already present for older children in your family) and we receive an electronic message for every alteration that takes place in your family composition. As soon as your new born child is registered at the community services, we will receive a new family composition that will contain the name of your newborn. Based on this composition, we will be able to add your freshly born baby to your file and start the child benefit payments automatically.

How do I obtain a child benefit certificate?

Are you a Parentia family member? In that case you can quickly and easily download the needed certificates through our customer page "My Parentia". Through this portal site you are able to log on to your personal account where you will be able to download or print the needed certificates. Or you can simply ask for your certificate by e-mail, post or telephone. You can find our contact data on our contact page.

I've got a new bank account number, how do I communicate the new number?

Changing a bank account number can only be done written. Depending on when your children were born, you will have to use a different document to do so. Once we have the necessary document in our possession, duly filled out and signed, we are obligated to contact FEBELFIN and check if you actually are the holder of the account number which was communicated.

Tip: Try to send us the document MOD Wfeb to communicate the new number as soon as possible, in that way you prevent the next payment to be transferred to your old bank account number.

I live abroad If you live abroad, and you or your partner came to Wallonia to work, the same rules apply as those for the Belgian families who live in Wallonia. To communicate a change of an international bank account number, you can use the form MOD W INT. You need to fill out the first part of this form yourself, a second part has to be filled out and stamped by your bank abroad. Once filled out and stamped you can send us the document by post or e-mail.

My child is a student worker. Does this influence my right to child benefits?

To thicken the bank or savings account, a lot of young people want te earn a little extra money during their studies. A child is without conditions entitled to their family allowance up until august of the year they turn 18. Up until then, profitable activities do not influence the right to child benefits. After that, up until their 25th birthday, a student can work (with limitations) and still receive their child benefits under certain conditions.

My child is placed in an institution, who receives the child benefits?

When a child is placed in an institution, 2/3rd of the family benefits are paid to the institution or the government that carried out the placement, "Fonds Jongerenwelzijn". Generally, the remaining 1/3rd is paid to the beneficiary who received the child benefits up until the moment the child was placed in the institution. Under the condition that this person keeps taking care of the child during the time of the placement. The judge can also decide to have the 1/3rd be transferred to a savings account of the child itself. To calculate the amount of the family benefit of children placed in an institution, other calculation rules may apply than for children who are not placed in an institution.

My family income has changed, do I have to report this?

In short: YES! It is always wise to contact your payment organism whenever your family income changes. However it's true that when as a family, you only have Belgian revenues, based on your tax form, each year we can check if you might or might not have been entitled to (social) supplements in the past.

So when you do not inform us that your family income has decreased at any given time, we will (based on your tax form) still be able to pay you your supplements retroactively if it would seem that you met the conditions as a family.

However, when you fail to inform us your family income has increased, while we already were paying a supplement, this may cause problems. Tax forms are always delayed. So if you do not inform us about an increase in income yourself, there is a possibility that we pay your supplement unrightfully for a certain period. The moment we establish this, wrongfully paid supplements will have to be reimbursed. More information as to which types of income need to be taken in account, can be found on our supplement page.

My family situation has changed, what do I do?

The composition of your family changes cause one of your grown up children leaves home, a (first) child is born, a family member passes, ... Changes in your family situation of that nature can have consequences for your child benefit payments. What do you need to do when a change in your family situation occurs?

You do not yet have a child benefit file. Your first child has been born and you forgot to apply for your birth allowance before birth. This means that you are unknown with the child benefit fund, and therefore you still have to communicate the birth of your child with one of the child benefit funds yourself. If you wish to apply for your birth allowance and child benefit with Parentia, you can easily do so online. Our colleagues will compose your file, based on the data you provide us with and will start payments of the child benefit together with the payment of birth allowance. Once payments have been activated, our colleagues will automatically be notified (by the crossroads bank) of every change that takes place in your family situation. Based on this information they will do the necessary to complete your file.

You already receive child benefit payments. In this case you don't have to do anything at all. As soon as your official family composition is altered at the community services, your child benefit fund will receive a digital message from the crossroads bank. Based on that message, our colleagues will take the necessary actions to complete your file.

When will I receive my child benefits?

The child benefits are paid around the 8th of the month every month. At that time you are receiving the Growth Package of the month prior to the month in which the payment takes place. For instance: the child benefits of the month of April are paid around the 8th of May. On top of that we schedule extra weekly payments to enable us to carry out overdue payments to which you still might be entitled.

You are already part of the Parentia family? Well if that's the case you can easily consult your payment history via our client page 'My Parentia'. Via this page you can log on to your personal account where you can consult all the necessary data.

Why choose Parentia and how do I do that?

As the biggest child benefit fund in Wallonia and Brussels and payment organism in Flanders, we pay child benefits and Growth Package of approximately 700.000 children. That provides us with the means to help your family in an efficient and proactive way. And we do far more than just paying the child benefits on time

As a parent, you already have plenty on your mind. And that's where we come in. We will assist you wherever we can throughout the entire proces of the growing up of your child. From baby to young adult. We will proactively send you useful information that can help you out with your family administration. That way you don't have to cruise the world wide web searching for the correct answer to your questions. And that provides you with some nice advantages:

you are not in the risk of overseeing obligations (or remembering them too late)
your children won't come short of anything, seeing they will not miss out on any supplements or bonusses
your family administration will take away less of your time ... so you can focus on what actually matters: your family.

On top of that Parentia will be your regular source of inspiration: from fun activities with your children to tips and tricks to help develop your child to its full potential.

Convinced? You're expected a (first) bay? Go ahead and apply for your birth allowance online as soon as possible. We will guide you through it step by step.

Already receiving your child benefit via an other child benefit fund but you would like transfer to Parentia? That just click the forms button in the top menu and download the affiliation form. If you rather have the form sent to you, just contact us via post, e-mail or telephone and we will send it to you as soon as possible.

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