Aspects juridiques et prisme historique

In: Enfance, Band 41, Heft 2, S. 83-90

Abstract

In France, legislation concerning the different types of day-care for young children is diverse and changing. Two major kinds of child care are studied here : 1 / In the first one, the child is cared for at home by his/her parents and this involves time and money. Besides the maternity leave, which varies according to the employment status of the mother, there appeared in 1977 two new possibilities : the post-natal leave and the educational parental leave. As for family allowances, two categories have been traditionally favoured by the legislation : recently established families and large families. However the Social Security budget for family allowances greatly decreased, from 1946 to 1982 to the benefit of health expenditures.
2 I In the second type studied the child is entrusted either to a private care-giver in her own home, or to an institution. The May 1977 Act protects care-givers and sets up a specific legal status for their profession. Legal structures of institutions such as creches are flexible, but requirements concerning the medical aspects and general functioning of these institutions are very precise.