Childcare in Russia

Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and the whole Russia help with childcare for maternity leave, single parents etc. This guide is made for you to understand the following:

• kindergartens in Russia;

• nannies and babysitters in Russia;

• kindergarten;

• childcare allowance and maternity leave in Russia;

• working mothers and childcare support in Russia.

Kindergartens in Russia

Russian kindergartens are controlled by the regional and local authorities. Preschool preparation for kids ages 5 to 6 was made by the Ministry of Education and Science.

There are two types of services from the childcare system in Russia like:

• universal primary service (1 to 3 years of age);
• kindergarten service (3 to 7 years of age).

Those services help working mothers not to have child care needs. After the Soviet Unions years a number of kindergartens was reduced significantly. Thus, people in big cities got a shortage of kindergarten places. Moscow offers specialized kindergarten commissions available in certain locations around the city when empty slots are available. To get into this childcare system in Russia, parents place their kids on the waiting list as soon as they’re born.

Nannies and babysitters in Russia

The first step here is to understand whether you should hire a Russian nanny or a nanny with other nationality. A Russian nanny may help you with other daily tasks like cooking food or enrolling your kid in a kindergarten.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten was made for childcare in Russia especially for kids 3 to 7 years of age and considered to be cheap and convenient.

After being in a Russian – speaking environment for several months, kids starting to learn Russian easily. Kids normally do well and start understand and speak Russian fast.

As an option you may keep your kid in an international school.

Childcare allowance and maternity leave in Russia

Childcare allowance is just for families with income below the minimum subsistence level. If a parent fails to pay alimony, there are supplements; single parents receive twice the amount of kid allowance to assist single mums and dads.

Maternity leave pays insured or unemployed parents until the child is 18 months old. The benefit is 40% of the insured’s average wage within the last 12 months.

Exactly 100% of the insured’s gross earnings in the last 12 months is paid for 70 days before the expected date of childbirth and 70 days after childbirth. However, this may extend by an additional 14 or 40 days in certain cases.

Working mothers and childcare support in Russia

There are a lot of working mothers in Russia with their role in society like a mother, housekeeper and an employee. It is expected that those three roles are simultaneous.

Men get usually all the working positions. It is not possible to work at night for pregnant women or women with a kid 1 to 3 years, so they get a paid maternity leave for three years.

Women with an employment contract may get maternity leave from 70 days prior to giving birth and 70 days after. Maternity leave is concentrated on the minimum wage in Russia rather than on a woman’s current wage.

Russia also provides a maternity grant. This is a one-time payment totaling three times the minimum wage. In order to receive a maternity allowance, a woman must have an employment contract. The maternity allowance then amounts to 100% of the mother’s salary, regardless of her length of employment.

Maternity allowances in Russia are followed by a monthly childcare allowance of 80% of the minimum wage for children up to 18 months old. This allowance may be supplemented by a child-care allowance. This is set at 35% of the minimum wage to compensate for earnings lost in the course of caring for children in this age bracket.

Single mothers and those who receive no child support from the father of their child may obtain an additional 45% of the minimum wage up to their child’s sixth birthday. The figure then increases to 50% and remains effective until the child is sixteen.