Finding a day-care center
In brief, this is how you find a daycare center:
- Parents register on the website www.kinderopvangleuven.be.
- Then you can prepare a preference list for the different locations (searchable on the same website). You can choose as many locations as you want.
- Now parents can start the official process to request a place with Kinderopvang. Essential information will be asked during the different steps of the process.
Making a request for child care:
- Choose the type of setting you would like your child care to be in.
- An "onthaalouder" or "onthaalmoeder" (child-caretaker) takes care of a maximum of 8 children in a home-setting.
- A "crib" or "crèche" (daycare centers which can be either municipal or private) offers care for more children in a larger, specifically designed, buildings
- If you choose an onthaalouder, every Thursday you will receive a list of vacant places, starting 9 months in advance
- A Belgian national number is no longer required during the registration procedure, only for Belgians.
- Choose how many days per week and which days you need child care.
For Leuven, requests can also be made in person at a service desk (for locations see https://www.kinderopvangleuven.be).
Elsewhere, “Kinderopvang in mijn buurt” (Childcare in my neighborhood) is active in a growing number of places. An up-to-date overview can be found at www.kinderopvanginmijnbuurt.be.
Good to know
- The availability of places is limited. It is important to apply as quickly as possible, even when the child is not yet born.
- Daycare can be provided until your child goes to school (at 2.5 and 3 years old).
- To look for a place outside Leuven, you may directly contact the daycare centers of your choice. For many municipalities outside Leuven, the application is now also done digitally. Via www.kinderopvanginmijnbuurt.be.
- If you need practical help with registering your child via the online registration tool, you can contact info@kinderopvangleuven.be.
- You can watch a video here , to see what a day at daycare looks like. The video is in Dutch, but if you go to the video settings->translate->automatic translate, you can choose the language of the subtitles.
Other links
Helpful Dutch Vocabulary
Kinderopvang = child care
Kinderdagverblijf = Crib / Crèche / Daycare center
Onthaalouder or onthaalmoeder = Child-caretake (the first is gender neutral ending in “ouder” = parent, the second is feminine ending in “moeder” = mother)