baby sitter? how does it work in Israel...

Smiling Wife

Thu, Nov 10 2011, 12:06 pm

Hi,
As many of you know we are be"H heading to Israel, RBS next month :-) k'a'H, b"H, Mazal Tov and please G-d make it go smooth.
SO my question is, I am planning to work ( @ home. outside, )...etc and I would love to get busy a bit with establishing a job situation however my 6 months old will need a care giver that is not me.
What is the MOST economical way to do this? What is the day care system in israel? I know there is some type of subsidy for the "municipal day care" what does it mean? Is it a government run day care? Please help me figure out a solution for this. Ultimately please G-d if we get some income I can think of options like hiring a metapelet...etc. But for now I think that is way out of my range... please advise.

Marion

Thu, Nov 10 2011, 1:16 pm

The subsidies are from the government and they are for recognized meonot (daycare centres) or mishpachtonim (home daycare providers) ONLY. They are given on a sliding scale, on the basis of income per person in the family. Mom must be working a defined "full time" outside the home to be eligible for the subsidy. Recognized meonot are run either by one of the women's organizations (Wizo, Na'amat, Emunah, Amili), the local community centre (Chevrat haMatnasim), or some other recognized organization (like the Beis Yaacov meonot/tzaharonim). A complete list of recognized meonot is available online at www.moit.gov.il under "horim ovdim" or something like that. (Yes, in Hebrew.) MOST meonot are, at this point in the year, full, in my experience. So you may be looking for a recognized mishpachton (list available in the same place, or possibly at the municipal offices) with an open space rather than a maon.

shalhevet

Thu, Nov 10 2011, 2:31 pm

If you are living in a chareidi area, the cheapest option is usually someone babysitting several children in her own home. You need to ask around, and decide for yourself what you think of the babysitter and the arrangements she has. Some take two or three, some take more. This is all unofficial and no government supervision. But there are a lot of lovely, warm, responsible women out there doing this. Also, mostly women do this half day till 1 or 1.30, but everyone is different.

You will also need to agree on conditions - will you pay her hourly or monthly? Does she take off paid when the schools/ganim have vacation? How much notice do you have to give? Do you pay her if you don't send your dd on an agreed day? etc. I really recommend doing this in writing so there are no awkward misunderstandings later (or worse).

The most expensive option is having a private caregiver in her own home (a little less expensive) or yours.

The maonot/ mishpachatonim are government supervised, have fixed hours and vacations - but you will only get a subsidy if you are working about 40 hours (maybe slightly less) in officially paid work. The maonot (more expensive) have several on the staff and are in groups of 12, I think. Personally I don't like the set-up at all, but that's JMHO. The advantage is you never get stuck because one metapelet couldn't come.

Mishpachatonim are slightly cheaper. They are run by someone in their own home, but they have government rules. They take up to 5 children, I think, including the metapelet's own and only 2 I think can be babies. Again - if you don't have an official job it will be an expensive option.

Smiling Wife

Thu, Nov 10 2011, 2:49 pm

Marion wrote:

If I'm not mistaken, an oleh who is attending ulpan is considered a full time student and is eligible for the subsidy at the student level. (It's a fixed amount, not dependent on income.)

That is correct, I love all of your inputs ladies, thank you,
I know someone who baby sits at home, she is a friend of mine and I trust her...etc, but $$ is an issue right now and I can't afford anything but the subsidized mishpachton or meon.
Thanks all for youe help, more advice welcome.

mannah74

Tue, Nov 22 2011, 1:01 pm

I didn't know that there mishpactonim that were subsidized. Nor did I realize that there are government rules to how a mishpacton should be run. That is interesting. All of the mishpactonim around here will have up to 6 or 7 kids for one caregiver. And if you aren't getting a subsidy, then a private mishpacton can sometimes cost similarily to the maon. I could not put my kid in the maon. I just couldn't do it. They are way too big, 12 kids to a caregiver, that is ridiculous. There is just no way one person could do that with 12 little babies.
Do you need full time care? Meaning 8 - 4? Cuz if you don't, I would recommend finding a private person to watch your kid for a couple of hours a week. Also, they do things here called gan emaot. That is a group of up to 5 women who alternate looking after the kids every day. One day it is you at your house, the next at someone else's, etc. You don't pay for that. That might be worth looking into. But they too, usually only run until 1:30.

Marion

Mon, Jan 02 2012, 1:42 pm

mannah74 wrote:

If you know of a maon where there are 12 children per caregiver you should be reporting them. That is completely unacceptable! Recognized meonot have 6 or 7 kids per caregiver (depends on ages of kids); babies class is up to 16 babies with 3 FT caregivers and one rotating; middle class is up to 28 kids with 4 FT caregivers and one rotating, and big kids are up to 32 kids with 3 FT caregivers and one rotating.

shalhevet

Mon, Jan 02 2012, 3:11 pm

Smiling Wife wrote:

Hi wonderful ladies, I am writing from the wonderful RBS, we just got over our jet lag and b"H our aliyah went smoothly, my baby is with a wonderful metapelet in RBS it all worked out nicely, thanks all for your replies and drop me a pm if you are in RBS.

Welcome

Did you join LII yet? See you there...

sped

Tue, Jan 03 2012, 1:17 am

Marion wrote:

mannah74 wrote:

I think the actual legal ratio is actually 1:6 for babies, 1:10 for the middle age group and 1:12 for the oldest group. Up to three groups may be in one room. That said, I have seen maonot that go over the limit...

sped

Tue, Jan 03 2012, 1:18 am

Smiling Wife wrote:

And welcome Smile