You received child benefits for a child or children born before 01/01/2019? The basic amount you received prior for 12/2018, remains unchanged from 01/01/2019, as long as your family situation does too. Even when a new child is born into the family after 01/01/2019, the older children keep getting the old amounts. Your newborn however will be entitled to the new amounts of the Growth Package.

So what is the difference then? The difference is in the supplements. If you were entitled to the social supplement before 01/01/2019, this right obviously remains. In the past you could only be entitled to a social supplement if you were a single parent, unemployed or on health insurance for an extended period of time, in combination with a family income that didn't surpass a certain maximum. In the new system however, you only have to meet the condition concerning your family income. As soon as your family income is below the maximum, you are entitled to a social supplement. On top of that, we also take into account of out of how many children your family consist. The more children you have, the bigger chances are you are entitled to the social supplement. Practically this means more families are entitled to a little financial nudge then was the case in the past.

You can already receive for your starting amount as soon as 2 months before the presumed date of birth. So best to apply on our website as soon as possible!

Can I also apply online? Yes you can. On top of the written application, Parentia offers you the possibility to apply for your starting amount online. Step by step we'll help you to file your application online quickly and easily. Keep your national number and a digital pregnancy certificate (eg. photo (JPEG, PNG), pdf, ...) closeby to complete your application. Don't have a digital cerftificate at hand or haven't reached your fifth month of pregnance yet? No worries! Be sure to already fill out your online application and we will remind you later on to send it to us as soon as you are in the possession of a valid certificate.

How do I apply for the starting amount? You can apply by sending us the application form model E, which you will find on our forms page, filled out and signed. You also have to add a pregnancy certificate, signed by your midwife or doctor/gynecologist. This certificate needs to contain the presumed date of birth and the number of children expected (one baby, twins or multiple birth). Pay attention! The signing date can only be as soon as 4 months before the presumed date of birth.

Once your child is born? If you applied for your starting amount with our services, you don't have to do anything anymore once your baby is born. Based on your application, we will already have started a file (or a file was already present for older children in your family) and we receive an electronic message for every alteration that takes place in your family composition. As soon as your new born child is registered at the community services, we will receive a new family composition that will contain the name of your newborn. Based on this composition, we will be able to add your freshly born baby to your file and start the child benefit payments automatically.

Are you a Parentia family member? In that case you can quickly and easily download the needed certificates through our customer page "My Parentia". Through this portal site you are able to log on to your personal account where you will be able to download or print the needed certificates. Or you can simply ask for your certificate by e-mail, post or telephone. You can find our contact data on our contact page.

As of the first of January 2019 in Flanders "child benefit" is named the Growth Package. The new model applies for all children born starting 01/01/2019 onwards.

Children born before that date, remain in the old system and keep receiving the old amounts until they finish their studies or until they reach the age of 25.

Families with children born before 2019 AND children born after 2019 receive a mix of the old child benefit amounts and the new Growth Package amounts .

What system applies to your situation and how much family benefits you will receive all depends of what your family looks like. You want to have a more detailed overview of the amounts and conditions? Then take a look on our page about the Growth package amount (under the Growth Package button in the top menu of this page) or contact your local office. One of our colleagues will glady provide you with an answer based on your specific situation.

Changing a bank account number can only be done written. Depending on when your children were born, you will have to use a different document to do so. Once we have the necessary document in our possession, duly filled out and signed, we are obligated to contact FEBELFIN and check if you actually are the holder of the account number which was communicated.

Tip: Try to send us the document needed to communicate the new number as soon as possible, in that way you prevent the next payment to be transferred to your old bank account number.

All children in your family were born before 01/01/2019 If this is the case, the beneficiary has to send us the form MOD W 1 BG, signed and duly filled out. You can download or print this file on our forms page.

At least 1 child was born from 01/01/2019 onwards If this is the case you have to send us the form MOD W 2 BG, signed and duly filled out. Attention! From the moment a child is born from 01/01/2019 onwards, parents can choose amongst themselves which parent can receive the Growth Package. You have to communicate your choice on the designated form. The form then has to be signed by both parents. If one of the signatures is missing, we cannot accept the form.

I live abroad If you live abroad, and you or your partner came to Flanders to work, the same rules apply as those for the Belgian families who live in Flanders. To communicate a change of bank account number, you can use the form MOD W INT. This form also has to be signed by both parents as soon as a child enters the family from 01/01/2019 onwards. When we are dealing with a new right, meaning if the right to the Belgian Growth Package starts from 01/01/2019 onwards, the parents get to choose which one of them receives the Growth Package. Again both signatures need to be present on the document, no matter the date of birth of the children.

When a child is placed in an institution, 2/3rd of the family benefits are paid to the institution through the "VAPH" or "CKG" or to "Opgroeien" if its a placement by "Jeugdhulp". The remaining 1/3rd can be paid to the "beneficiaries". If the "beneficiary core" consists of the parents, they will decide together which one of them receives the 1/3rd. The judge can also decide to have the 1/3rd be transferred to a savings account of the child itself. To calculate the amount of the family benefit of children placed in an institution, other calculation rules may apply than for children who are not placed in an institution.

In Flanders you are no longer obligated to register with the unemployment office (VDAB) to keep receiving the Growth Package when you finish or quit school. Under certain conditions, as a former student you are entitled to a complementary 12 months of Growth Package and to receive it certain actions have to be taken.

To thicken the bank or savings account, a lot of young people want te earn a little extra money during their studies. A child is without conditions entitled to their family allowance up until the month of their 18th birthday. Up until then, profitable activities do not influence the right to family benefits. After that, up until their 25th birthday, a student can work (with limitations) and still receive their child benefits under certain conditions.

Conform the obligation of education up until the age of 18, there is a unconditional right to the Growth Package up until the month the child reaches majority. Until that date we will not verify if your child attends school.

A child who then continues their studies, follows an apprenticeship, alternating education or an internship to be appointed in a public office can, under certain conditions, continue to receive family benefits up until his 25th birthday. The payment organism of your Growth Package will verify your childs educational status annually.

As soon as your major child finishes or quits his education, he will be assumed to have "left" school. In Flanders children are no longer obligated to register at the unemployment office (VDAB) as a former student in search of a job. During a period of 12 months your child will, under certain conditions, remain entitled to the Growth Package.

A child with a recognized condition or disability is entitled to encreased child benefits up until the age of 21.

In short: YES! It is always wise to contact your payment organism whenever your family income changes. However it's true that when as a family, you only have Belgian revenues, based on your tax form, each year we can check if you might or might not have been entitled to (social) supplements in the past.

So when you do not inform us that your family income has decreased at any given time, we will (based on your tax form) still be able to pay you your supplements retroactively if it would seem that you met the conditions as a family.

However, when you fail to inform us your family income has increased, while we already were paying a supplement, this may cause problems. Tax forms are always delayed. So if you do not inform us about an increase in income yourself, there is a possibility that we pay your supplement unrightfully for a certain period. The moment we establish this, wrongfully paid supplements will have to be reimbursed. More information as to which types of income need to be taken in account, can be found on our supplement page.

The composition of your family changes cause one of your grown up children leaves home, a (first) child is born, a family member passes, ... Changes in your family situation of that nature can have consequences for your Growth Package payments. What do you need to do when a change in your family situation occurs?

You do not yet have a Growth Package file. Your first child has been born and you forgot to apply for your starting amount before birth. This means that you are unknown with the payment organisms, and therefore you still have to communicate the birth of your child with one of the payment organisms yourself. If you wish to apply for your starting amount and Growth Package with Parentia, you can easily do so online. Our colleagues will compose your file, based on the data you provide us with and will start payments of the Growth Package together with the payment of your starting amount. Once payments have been activated, our colleagues will automatically be notified (by the crossroads bank) of every change that takes place in your family situation. Based on this information they will do the necessary to complete your file.

You already receive Growth package payments. In this case you don't have to do anything at all. As soon as your official family composition is altered at the community services, your payment organism will receive a digital message from the crossroads bank. Based on that message, our colleagues will take the necessary actions to complete your file.

Every Flemish child is entitled to the basic amount of the Growth Package. On top of the basic amount their are a few other supplements to which you may be (under certain conditions) entitled. We summed up the different supplements and conditions hereunder.

Am I entitled to a social supplement? Wether or not you are entitled to a social supplement, depends on your annual taxable grosse family income. As apposed to the past, not only families in which one parent has been unemployed or on health insurance for an extended period of time can be entitled to a supplement but also working parents with a low income can get a little financial nudge.

Am I entitled to an age supplement? For children born before 01/01/2019 that already were entitled to child benefits, the monthly age supplement remains the same. Just like in the past, these children are entitled to an age supplement as of the age of six. This supplement is higher if the family is also entitled to a social supplement and will increase even more at the ages of 12 and 18.

For children born from 01/01/2019 onwards (or for older children that only entered the Flemish system of the Growth Package after 31/12/2018) the monthly age supplements no longer apply. A more detailed overview of the amounts and conditions can be found on our page about the annual age supplement.

Am I entitled to the annual school bonus or school premium? All children (aswell the children born before 01/01/2019 as those born from 01/01/2019 onwards) are entitled to a universal participation supplement (what used to be called schoolpremium and which in the new Growth package sometimes is referred to as the school bonus) for every year in which they are entitled to the Growth Package of the month of July. A detailed overview of the amounts can be found on our page dedicated to the school bonus.

I'm an orphan, am I entitled to an additional amount? Children that were orphaned before 01/01/2019 (just like they were in the past) are entitled to a fixed orphans amount, which replaces the regular basic amounts, regardless of the rank of the child and the fact if only one or both parents are deceased, this under the condition that the possible living parent remains single. For children orphaned from 01/01/2019 onwards, there a orphans supplement. The amount of this supplement depends of the number of deceased parents. Wether or not the surviving parent remains single, does not influence the right to this supplement any more.

A more detailed overview of the amounts can be found on our webpage dedicated to the orphans supplement.

Care supplement From 01/01/2019 the term "Care supplement" was introduced. This term contains 2 seperate supplements to which all children (those born before aswel as those born from 01/01/2019 onwards) might be entitled.

The first type of care supplement is the 'foster care supplement'. For children who are being raised in a foster family, a monthly supplement can be paid. In the past this supplement could only be paid to the beneficiary who received the child benefits right before the child was put into foster care. Nowadays however (from 01/01/2019 onwards) this supplement can also be paid to the foster parent(s).

The second care supplement is the 'specific support supplement' (in the past called supplement for disabled children). All children (born before 01/01/2019 but younger than 21 and all children born from 01/01/2019 onwards) with a specific need for care, that means all children that have been recognized by the belgian government (till 2018) or "Kind en Gezin" (from 2019) as children with a disability or condition, may be entitled to a supplement of which the amount depends on the severity of the condition.

Child care supplement, kindergarten supplement and school supplement All children that attend a non income related Dutch speaking child (day) care (this also applies to children who live in Brussels or Wallonia) are entitled to a forfaitair amount of child care supplement for every day they are present in the day care center. More so, all children that attend (a Dutch speaking) school are entitled to a kindergarten supplement on the ages of 3 and 4. And there's more. School expenses can add up for parents. Parents who financially are in a tight spot, may be entitled to an annual school bonus. So are you living in Brussels or Wallonia? Then apply for (one of) these supplements that can be added to your Brussels or Walloon child benefits, with Parentia.

The benefit recipient core is the term that in the new system is used to appoint the person that received the child benefit on 31/12/2018 in the old system. As long as the family situation of the recipient remains unaltered, the term benefit recipient core remains applicable, in which only 1 beneficiary can be the legal recipient of the family allowance. Who is appointed as recipient is also determined legally.

As of the moment that a familial alteration accurs after 31/12/2018, this "benefit recipient core" is converted to a "beneficiary core". Flemish families that had a first child after 31/12/2018, immediately fall into the beneficiary core system. Within this core a maximum of 2 people can be appointed as benificiaries of the Growth Package. These two beneficiaries can decide together who out of the two receives the Growth Package. Off course you can also choose to have your Growth Package transferred to a joint bank account. For a more detailed explanation on your specific situation, it's best to contact your local Parentia office.

The Growth Package is paid around the 8th of the month every month. At that time you are receiving the Growth Package of the month prior to the month in which the payment takes place. For instance: the Growth Package of the month of April is paid around the 8th of May. On top of that we schedule extra weekly payments to enable us to carry out overdue payments to which you still might be entitled.

You are already part of the Parentia family? Well if that's the case you can easily consult your payment history via our client page 'My Parentia'. Via this page you can log on to your personal account where you can consult all the necessary data.

As the biggest payment organism in Flanders and biggest child benefit fund in Brussels and Wallonia, we pay the Growth Package and child benefits of approximately 700.000 children. That provides us with the means to help your family in an efficient and proactive way. And we do far more than just paying the Growth package on time

As a parent, you already have plenty on your mind. And that's where we come in. We will assist you wherever we can throughout the entire proces of the growing up of your child. From baby to young adult. We will proactively send you useful information that can help you out with your family administration. That way you don't have to cruise the world wide web searching for the correct answer to your questions. And that provides you with some nice advantages:

• you are not in the risk of overseeing obligations (or remembering them too late)
• your children won't come short of anything, seeing they will not miss out on any supplements or bonusses
• your family administration will take away less of your time ... so you can focus on what actually matters: your family.

On top of that Parentia will be your regular source of inspiration: from fun activities with your children to tips and tricks to help develop your child to its full potential.

Convinced? You're expected a (first) bay? Go ahead and apply for your starting amount online as soon as possible. We will guide you through it step by step.

Already receiving your Growth Package via an other paying organism but you would like transfer to Parentia? That just click the forms button in the top menu and download the affiliation form. If you rather have the form sent to you, just contact us via post, e-mail or telephone and we will send it to you as soon as possible.

Your payment organism luckily is not one of the administrative burdens you have to consider when you move! That's right, the crossroads bank of social security will make sure your payment organism is automatically notified of your changed adress. Based on this notification the data in your file will be adapted.

Careful! When you move from one Belgian region to another, you will also be subject to the child benefit legislation of that specific region. On top of that, you will have to fill out a new application for family allowances. Even if you choose to remain with your current payment organism, you still have to file your application with their services.