Will finding a nanny and financing childcare soon be easier? These commitments of presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron promise to be scrutinized by single parents and in particular by single mothers, who represent 85% of the two million single-parent families. This Thursday, March 17, among the key measures of his program presented to the press, the outgoing president wanted to increase by 50% “the support allowance for single mothers”, in reference to the family support allowance (ASF) paid by the Family Allowance Fund (CAF) to parents raising their child alone.
Emmanuel Macron also promised that he would apply if he is re-elected a “supplement for the mode of childcare for children aged 6 to 12”. Today paid to the tune of 116.11 euros per month, this aid could thus “be raised to 174 euros”, he detailed in front of an audience of journalists.
Then, the candidate put back on the table the case of the enforceable right to child custody for single mothers (or fathers). The goal ? Put an end to the parents’ obstacle course to find a place in a crèche or a childminder, but also allow young mothers to find their way back to work more easily. It is a question of setting up an opposable right allowing to welcome from 2 years, and in collective reception, the children who do not benefit from any solution of reception outside the family.
Concretely, this mechanism would make it possible to have a reception capacity, such as a relay in a crèche or at home. With a major specificity: after five years, according to the latest recommendations, parents without a custody solution could legally turn against their city, and the latter could be ordered to pay a fine.
“These promises are expected because inequalities are widening”
But promises make children happy… Announced during Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign, then by François Hollande in the form of a public service for early childhood, the idea is therefore not new, but it has never succeeded. Will this time be the right one? The proposal resurfaced in October 2021 at the instigation of Adrien Taquet, Secretary of State for Early Childhood and Families… after being dormant for more than 17 years. The proposal is taken from the report by family sociologist Julien Damon, and Schneider Electric’s general manager for Europe, Christel Heydemann, presented at the end of 2021 at the National Family Conference.
“These promises are expected, because inequalities are widening, especially on Wednesdays when children have to be looked after, comments Julien Jourdan, director general of Fédésap, Federation of personal and local service companies. Coming out of the Covid, families were particularly penalized in early childhood, he recalls. They have not been able to sufficiently articulate individual on-call time, at home, and collective time, in the crèche”. There remains the question of the cost of the measure. In 2019, the High Council for the Family estimated its operation at “about 2 billion euros”.