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Your chances of obtaining a place in a nursery
Of course, to win the Grail, a place in a nursery, motivation counts. Some directors measure the parents’ wishes in the number of their appeals and then defend the cases in committee, when others are annoyed by families who, according to them, harass them. It is quite an art to know how to be insistent without becoming unbearable! And this is far from being the only criterion taken into consideration. Here are the elements which come into account for the allocation of places in crèche and your chances of obtaining one.
The relationship between supply and demand
All regions do not have the same facilities for young children (EAJE). The twelve best-off departments offer up to 37 places for 100 children under 3 years old. The departments of Ile-de-France, the Maritime Alps, Var, Bouches-du-Rhône and Saône-et-Loire are part of. At the bottom of the list, the twelve poorest departments in collective structures can only offer 6 places for 100 children. From one city to another, and even from one arrondissement to another, the relationship between supply and demand will be more or less favorable. In Lille, 49% of requests are met, which is an excellent score. The XNUMXth arrondissement of Paris grants a place to one in three families who request it, when some of its neighbors show a ratio of one place for six requests. Another piece of data tends to tend even more, almost everywhere in France, the relationship between supply and demand: the very sharp drop in the enrollment of children under 3 years old. When children entered school en masse from the age of two to two and a half, they freed up places. This is less and less the case.
Your family situation
As regards municipal nurseries, these are commissions which, in most towns, allocate vacant places. Some cities are content with 3 or 4 commissions per year when others, like Orléans, will have 11. These committees are generally made up of a representative of the mayor, the head of the early childhood department, the directors of municipal nurseries and, possibly, for greater transparency as in Lyon, representatives of parents. Each city develops a list of criteria, which are often the same. Lyon has a very precise criteria sheet that allows families to accumulate points (13 in total). The first point is awarded if the family lives in the borough (half a point for families who only work there), another point goes to families who are on the waiting list and whose file is presented for the second time. Parents of twins get an extra point, etc. In Nantes, special attention will be paid to low-income households or to parents looking for a job or following training. Everywhere, single parenthood is most often a priority criterion.
Your child’s birth month
It is a criterion, favorable or not, over which you cannot do much. If your baby was born in June and that you need a place in September, you considerably increase your chances. Amélie, mother of a little Sofia born in January, was thus told by a town hall employee: “You did not have your baby at the right time! The functioning of the nurseries is in fact based on that of the school. At the start of September, a call for air occurs. The children of large section leave the nursery to enter kindergarten and, mechanically, the means succeed them, which leave their places to the little ones, who in turn free the cradles. When children could still enter kindergarten in January, arrivals to crèche could also be staggered. Today, most municipalities recognize this: even if their allocation committees meet several times a year, that of May, which allocates places in September, is the most important. The other commissions are mainly used to grant places vacated by families who move.
In addition, your child’s age must match the age of the child who has left. In Orleans, in 2010, 273 places were allocated to the May commission, 72 in September and 15 in March.
Your motivation
Once the registration is done in town hall, families usually have to confirm their space request by calling the nurseries requested or the nurseries on which they depend. Some parents make a simple confirmation phone call once every two months, while others call insistently every two weeks. It is impossible to tell which is the right strategy. Some directors measure the parents’ motivation by the number of their appeals and then defend the cases in committee, when others are annoyed by families who, according to them, harass them. Of course, it is quite an art to know how to be insistent without becoming unbearable! In any case, do not give up at the first refusal. In many cities, in Quimper or Lyon for example, the anteriority of the request is an important criterion and the members of the commissions regularly go “digging” in the waiting lists.
Think of associative and private nurseries
Remember that depending on your place of residence, the offer of associative or private nurseries can also be very important. Nantes has 34 associative structures which have their own system for allocating places. In Strasbourg, 70% of the crèche places offered are managed by associations and not by the city, one of the few not yet centralizing the attributions in committees. Thiss associative structures obey the same safety standards, personnel qualification or pricing than municipal day nurseries. In general, it is up to you to go and canvass these establishments. There remains the solution of corporate nurseries. Even if your company has not yet opened its own nursery, you can benefit from the nursery of another company. Your employer can in fact reserve a place for you (which means participating in its financing) in any company nursery. The company “Ma place en crèche” (www.maplaceencreche.com) acts as intermediaries between the parents who are applicants and the companies, on the one hand those which have a crèche and vacant places, on the other hand those which do not. have not but would like to reserve places for their employees in existing structures. For families, from registration to file follow-up, the service is completely free. This is not a quick fix, just an extra chance.