Enrollment in day care centres
To enroll children at a child care center in Leuven, you need to register your child via a central online registration system (www.kinderopvangleuven.be) which includes all day care centers in Leuven.
Action steps
- Parents must first register themselves on the website www.kinderopvangleuven.be, after which they can prepare a preference list for the different locations which are searchable on the same website. The number of choices for this list is unlimited.
- After the preference list is made, parents can start the official process to request a place with kinderopvang. Necessary information will be asked during the different steps of the process.
- Making a request for child care:
- Choose in which type of setting you would like your child to be taken care of. An onthaalouder or onthaalmoeder (childminder) takes care of maximum 8 children in a home-setting. A crib or crèche (day care centers which can be either municipal or private) offers care for more children in a larger, specifically purposed, building
- 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.
- Requests can be also be made in person at a service desk (for locations see https://www.kinderopvangleuven.be)
- In the meantime, childcare in my neighborhood is already active in several cities / municipalities, and this will expand in the future. An up-to-date overview can be found at www.kinderopvanginmijnbuurt.be.
Attention points
- The availability of places is limited. It is important to apply as quickly as possible, even when the child is not yet born.
- Day care can be provided until your child goes to school. This is between the age of 2.5 and 3 years old.
- To look for a place outside Leuven, you may directly contact the day care centers of your choice. For a large number of municipalities outside Leuven, the application is now also done digitally. An up-to-date overview can be found at www.kinderopvanginmijnbuurt.be. The city of Leuven can also. See the link for more info.
- If you need practical help for the registration of your child in the online registration tool, you can contact info@kinderopvangleuven.be.
- You can watch a video, here , to see what a day at day care 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.
Supplier, channels and tools
Audience
Parents who want to enroll their children (baby to toddler) in a day care (kinderopvang) center in Leuven.