Sweden is a guide country for Belgium because there parents can choose whether to keep their child at home longer. “Anyone who asks for a place in the shelter will receive one within four months. Parents can also choose to take parental leave during the first year of life,” explains childcare expert Michel Vandenbroeck (UGent).
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Van Lancker just calculated that Flanders invests more than four times less per child and per hour in childcare, namely 2.2 euros. In the Netherlands this is 6.2 euros and in Sweden 8.8 euros. “We want to be like Sweden, but we use the shelter even more intensively and we don’t pay for it. If we continue like this, more accidents will happen,” he explains.
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Van Lancker explains his calculation today during a hearing in the Flemish Parliament.
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