Day Care at Home

Families can provide day care for their own children, or hire a caregiver at home.

Either one of the parents, or another day-carer such as a relative, may receive child home care allowance and municipal day-care supplement to take care of children at their own home. Child home care allowance can be granted when a child under 3 years of age does not have a place in municipal early childhood education. Private day care allowance can be granted when a child under school age does not have a place in municipal early childhood education.

Child home care allowance, private day care allowance, flexible care allowance and partial care allowance are different means of providing for families taking care of their children at home. Choice of the allowances above, as well as the amount of allowance granted, depend on for example the child’s age, who is taking care of the child and whether home care is carried out full-time or just some days of the week. Families may also hire a caregiver at home, alone or together with another family.

Municipal Supplement in Sipoo

Families in Sipoo may receive a municipal supplement on the following conditions:

• all children under school age must be eligible to child home care allowance,
• municipal supplement is not granted to families receiving some form of parental allowance,
• all children under school age in the family receive care at home,
• as an exception to the condition directly above: if a sibling to a child receiving child home care allowance needs special support and thus has a place in municipal cay care, the head of ECEC services has the right to decide whether home care allowance is granted or not.

Employer Families

More than one family can act as an employer. In these cases, one of the adults is appointed responsible for employment duties. Parents may also employ a caregiver for the child via a company providing care services. In these cases, the family is eligible to tax credit for household expenses.

Allowances are applied for at The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela).

Do the following

You can apply for a home care or private day care allowance from Kela.

When applying for private care support from Kela, first contact your municipality of residence. The municipality checks the carer’s eligibility and criminal record and submits the requisite documents to Kela. Kela pays the private day care allowance directly to the child carer.

The home care allowance is paid by Kela to the child's main carer, usually as a parent. You can use the support to pay the carer's salary.

An ECEC expert will meet with the caregiver, or make a control visit at your chosen place of care (when the person is employed by several families). The expert will also sign an application for Kela, stating that you are eligible to receive allowance for home care of your child. After receiving the expert’s form, parents may apply for home care allowance or private day care allowance at Kela.