Page 18 – ACCESS NL

How can I register with a kraamzorg?

Posted on January 23, 2018May 31, 2019 by Katerina Triantafillou

It is suggested that you register with a kraamcentrum (maternity care agency) prior to the 12th week of pregnancy so that you can be assured of postpartum care. More recently, most agencies have started to accept registrations at any point during the pregnancy. However, you are strongly advised to register as early as possible with your preferred maternity care agency or so-called ‘kraamzorg agency’. The sooner contact has been made, the more time both parties have to make arrangements and communicate their needs and expectations.

Click here for more information about kraamzorg (in Dutch only). Fill in your postcode for a list of maternity care agencies in your area. Your midwife may also be able to direct you to a preferred agency. You must contact your health insurance provider to ensure your chosen maternity care agency is approved by them.

What is the role of a kraamverzorgende (maternity nurse)?

Posted on January 23, 2018August 10, 2023 by Katerina Triantafillou

The kraamverzorgende (maternity aide) is a trained medical professional who will provide a range of services that may include:

Helping during a home birth
Guiding the mother through the feeding, bathing and taking care of their child, physically as well as emotionally, teaching her how to recognise the baby’s needs and how to attend to them
Monitoring the health of the mother and her newborn child, acting as a link between the family and the midwife/GP
Ensuring the house environment is maintained to an appropriate level of hygiene by cleaning the toilets, the bathroom and the mother’s and baby’s rooms every day
Helping with light household duties during her stay to ensure the mother gets sufficient rest

The exact details of what your particular maternity aide will help with, as well as the frequency and length of her visits, will normally be determined before the birth. This first (prenatal) home visit will take place at around the seventh or eighth month of the pregnancy. It allows both parties to discuss the expectant mother’s needs and expectations. Once the baby is born, you have the option of adjusting the agreed schedule to more or less involvement after consultation with the agency. Flexibility is the key here.

It is important to note that the maternity aide is trained to guide and assist, not dominate or interfere. They will adapt to your way of doing things, not the other way around. If you decide that you do not want to breastfeed, then that will be taken as your choice. No pressure will be applied for you to conform to a given dogma, and support will be provided if you want it.

What check-ups will be done after the birth of my baby?

Posted on January 23, 2018October 31, 2022 by Katerina Triantafillou

Your verloskundige (midwife) will visit you at home within a week of your child’s birth. If you have seen a gyneacologist instead of a midwife, you must go to their clinic for appointments, or arrange a visit to your doctor or midwife. You must check with the hospital to see if they organise this visit by a verloskundige; if not, you will be required to make an appointment with a local verloskundige yourself. The verloskundige is also responsible for the hielprik (heel prick test) where a sample of blood is taken from the baby’s heel to detect for hereditary illnesses. This occurs during the week when the kraamverzorgster (maternity aide) is caring for you and your baby.

You will have a final postnatal check-up six weeks after the baby is born at the practice of your verloskundige (midwife) or in the hospital.

Is my baby going to be insured automatically after birth?

Posted on January 23, 2018May 31, 2019 by Katerina Triantafillou

This is not the case. You have to register your baby within four months after birth. The baby will receive healthcare free of charge until reaching the age of 18.

Which documents should I bring to register the birth of my newborn child?

Posted on January 23, 2018May 31, 2019 by Katerina Triantafillou

Registering the birth of a child takes places at the gemeente where your child was born (municipality). Please bring the following documents:

Valid passport or identity card (ID card) of the person registering the birth. Or a driving license if the person registering the birth lives in the municipality where the birth is being registered
Valid passport or ID card of the mother or a driving license if the mother lives in the municipality where the birth is being registered

The following documents are not compulsory when registering a birth. It may, however, be useful to take them with you:

Birth notification from the hospital or midwife showing the child’s birth names and the date and time of birth
Where applicable, a copy of the declaration of acknowledgement of parentage if the child was acknowledged before birth
Declaration of surname choice if the child’s surname was decided when acknowledging the child before birth.

What maternity leave am I entitled to?

Posted on January 23, 2018March 24, 2025 by Katerina Triantafillou

Employees are entitled to at least 16 weeks of paid zwangerschapsverlof (pregnancy leave) and bevallingsverlof (maternity leave), starting in most cases four to six weeks before the expected date of the child’s birth or due date. Please note that it is a government requirement that you must take pregnancy leave – meaning you must stop working – four weeks before the due date. After the birth of your child, you are entitled to take up to at least ten weeks of paid maternity leave, even if the baby was born after its due date. You are required to inform your employer at least three weeks prior to the beginning of your pregnancy leave .You will be required to submit a certificate, either from your doctor or midwife, to your employer in which the baby’s due date is stated.

Pregnancy benefit

Your employer will claim the maternity and pregnancy benefit (zwangerschaps- en bevallingsuitkering) on your behalf to the Government’s Employee Insurance Agency (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen – UWV). This should be done at least two weeks before the start date of your pregnancy leave, and it is usually paid to the employer. However, if it is more convenient for you to get it transferred directly (e.g. your employment contract ends during your leave), check with your employer.

This benefit will match the mother’s salary. Please note there is a maximum daily amount that is updated yearly. If your normal salary exceeds this daily allowance, then your employer may make up the difference, but this is not mandatory. Find the latest information at the UWV website (in Dutch only).

Paternity leave

Partners are entitled to five days of kraamverlof or vaderschapsverlof (paternity leave) paid in full by the employer when their partner has just given birth and maximum five weeks unpaid leave after their child is born. These entitlements are equally applicable to married couples who already have children.

Parental leave

Both you and your partner may take ouderschapsverlof (additional unpaid parental leave). This is a leave entitlement that you can take in order to care for a child who is less than eight years of age. You must have been working for the same employer for at least one year. If you have more than one child, you can take parental leave for each child separately. Please note, this additional leave is not paid unless special arrangements are made between the employer and the employee. In addition both partners can take 9 weeks of parental leave in addition to the leave mentioned above. This leave will be partly paid and has to be taken within one year after the birth of the baby.

What other leaves-of-absence from work are there relating to my children?

Posted on January 23, 2018October 31, 2022 by Katerina Triantafillou

The Dutch government provides several different arrangements to cover the rights for parents to take care of their child.

Emergency leave (calamiteitenverlof): Employees are entitled to a short leave, with salary, when the employee cannot work because of very exceptional personal circumstances. You can be entitled to emergency leave, for instance, if your child becomes ill and you have to care for him/her at home, or if the child is ill and you have to collect him/her from school.
Short-term care leave (kortdurend zorgverlof): In addition to emergency leave, short-term care leave is available to employees who have to look after a sick child, partner, family members or other persons living with them or a very close friend or neighbour; the employer must pay at least 70% of your salary.
Long-term care leave (langdurend zorgverlof): If necessary, the employee can ask for an extension to the short-term leave to continue caring for the same person. However, this leave is totally unpaid and can be taken all in one block or spread over a maximum period of 26 weeks.
Adoption leave (adoptieverlof): Parents adopting a child are entitled to a maximum of six weeks paid adoption leave. The same entitlement applies for foster parents, if it is clear from the start that the child will be joining the family on a permanent basis. Adoption leave can start up to four weeks prior to the handover of the child to the adoptive parents.
Ouderschapsverlof (parental leave) You are entitled to parental leave when you have been working for the same employer for at least one year and are caring for a child who is younger than eight. Both parents are entitled to parental leave. If you have more children, you may take parental leave for each child separately. You are also entitled to parental leave for your adopted children, foster children or stepchildren, provided the child is living with you. You are entitled to parental leave up to 26 times your weekly working hours. The normal arrangement is that for one yerar, you work half of your normal hours. For example, if you work 32 hours per week, then forone year you will work 16 hours per week together while taking 16 hours parental leave per week. Parental leave is unpaid. In addition, both parents are entitled to nine extra weeks of parental leave. This leave will be partly paid.
Geboorteverlof is the official name for vaderschapsverlof (paternity leave) You are entitled to one full week of paid paternity leave within four weeks after the birth of the baby. In addition you can a take a maximum of five weeks extra paternity leave, which is partially paid. Before you are allowed to use these five weeks, you must have first used the week of paid leave. You must use the additional leave within six months after the birth. During the extra paternity leave, you don’t receive a salary but a the benefit from the UWV (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen, Employee Insurance Agency). This is 70% of your salary. If your salary is higher than a certain maximum, you will receive 70% of this maximum. You can read more about this on https://www.uwv.nl/particulieren/overige-onderwerpen/aanvullend-geboorteverlof-voor-partners/hoe-regelt-aanvullend-geboorteverlof/index.aspx (in Dutch only).

More information can be found at: business.gov.nl/regulation/leave-schemes.

How can I get kindersbijslag (child benefit) and how does it work?

Posted on January 23, 2018April 16, 2020 by Katerina Triantafillou

The kinderbijslag (child benefit) is a government allowance towards the expenses of raising a child. You are eligible for this allowance if you live and/or work in the Netherlands (or abroad but employed by a Dutch employer) and have a child or children under 18 years of age. There are no income or asset criteria. The procedure to claim child benefits is:

Following the registration of your child’s birth at your gemeente (municipality), your data will be forwarded to the Social Security Office (Sociale Verzekeringbank – SVB)
Within two to four weeks, the SVB will contact you about applying for the child benefit by mail or by submitting your application online using your DigiD (your digital identification code giving access to hundreds of Dutch Government websites).
After you have requested the child benefit, the SVB will send you its decision, stating the amount you will receive per child and the starting date for your child benefit.
The amount that you will receive is based upon the age of your child, number of children you have, and whether there are any special needs.
A quarterly payment is made into your bank account until your child reaches age18. When your child is older than 16, you will only continue receiving the child benefit if he/she goes to school and receives an income of no more than an annually fixed amount.

The child benefit is not exclusively for bringing up and caring of your own children; it also applies to adopted children, foster children, stepchildren or other children you bring up and care for as if they were your own. In this case, you must contact the SVB yourself to ask them to send you an application form. It is the same procedure if you arrive in the Netherlands with children who were born abroad. You can find the forms and further information at: https://www.svb.nl/en/child-benefit.

If your child lives outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland, the amount that you receive for the child benefit may be adjusted to the price level in your child’s country of residence. Should the amount you are receiving be changed, you should receive a letter from the SVB informing you of the new amount.

When do I need to register my child to the consultatiebureau (child health clinic)?

Posted on January 23, 2018May 31, 2019 by Katerina Triantafillou

Once your baby/child has been registered in the gemeente (municipality) – because your child was born abroad and you just moved to the Netherlands or if you have just given birth in the Netherlands – you will receive an invitation from the consultatiebureau (child health clinic) in order to make your first appointment.

If your child is not registered at the municipality, for example if you have privileged status (representatives of other countries and staff of international organisations, including their families usually have this status), you can contact your closest child health clinic directly and register your child yourself. If you have a newborn, it can be worth asking your kraamzorgende (maternity aide) for help in doing so. During the first year, you will visit the child health clinic approximately eight times and then a few times each successive year until your child is four years old.

Do I need to make a will or change it upon the birth of my child?

Posted on January 23, 2018May 31, 2019 by Katerina Triantafillou

After the birth of your child, it is suggested that you should consider making a will if you have not already done so. If the unexpected happens and both you and your partner die suddenly, it is in your best interests to stipulate in a legally-recognised document who should become the guardian. If no will exists in these circumstances, the Dutch courts may decide that your baby/child should be put into state care as an orphan. To make a will in the Netherlands, you should make an appointment with a Dutch notaris (notary). Please note that if you have already made a will, you are advised to amend it to reflect the fact that you now have a child (a dependent).

If you have already made a will in your previous country of residence or origin, this document will be recognised by the Dutch authorities as long as it conforms to the legal requirements of the country in which it was written and does not contain any stipulations which would conflict with any public order or public morality legislation in the Netherlands.

Please note that the Dutch court will automatically go through the process of establishing legal guardianship should both parents of the child die suddenly. However, this may take some time if your will was made in another country and thus not registered with a Dutch notary. It is thus suggested that you should make your close relatives (parents or siblings) aware of the existence of your will and where it can be found.

Which surname can I choose for my child?

Posted on January 23, 2018February 4, 2024 by Katerina Triantafillou

For your first child, you can choose either the mother’s surname or the father’s surname. This surname will be given to all subsequent children. This is to ensure that all the children in a family have the same surname. You can choose your first child’s surname before birth or when registering the birth. Both parents must go to the Registrar of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Registered Partnerships to register the choice of surname. This cannot be done by one parent or in writing. It is also possibible to give both the father’s and the mother’s name: e.g. father is called Johnson, mother is called Peterson. Their child can be called Johnson, Peterson, Johnson Peterson or Peterson Johnson. When this child is grown up and gets children, it can choose for maximum two surnames as well. You can find more information on the website of the government (Dutch only)

Automatic surname
If you do not choose a surname, your child will automatically be given the father’s surname or the mother’s surname. This depends on the family situation:

Parents who are married or registered partners (of different sexes)
Your child will automatically be given the father’s surname. However, you can choose the mother’s surname instead. To do so, both parents must go to the Registrar of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Registered Partnerships to register the choice of the mother’s surname. You can do this before the birth or when registering the birth.

Unmarried parents (of different sexes)
Your child will automatically be given the mother’s surname. If you would prefer your child to be given the father’s surname, he must acknowledge the child. At the time of acknowledgement, you will also be asked for your choice of surname. To acknowledge the child and choose its surname, both parents must go to the Registrar of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Registered Partnerships. You can do this before the birth or when registering the birth.

Parents of the same sex (two men)
If you adopt a child with another man, you can choose either of your surnames. However, this only applies to your first child. Your other children will be given the same surname as your first child. You choose the surname of your child in court when formalising the adoption.

Parents of the same sex (two women)
If two women who are married or registered partners have a child, the following applies:

The child was conceived through an anonymous sperm donation: the child is given the surname of the co-mother (the female partner of the biological mother). This only applies if the co-mother automatically becomes the child’s lawful parent when the child is born. The parents can also choose the surname of the biological mother.
The child was conceived through a known donor and the co-mother acknowledges the child: the child is given the surname of the biological mother. The parents can also choose the surname of the co-mother by signing a declaration of surname choice.