To qualify for adoption or foster care pay, you must meet 1 of the following criteria:

• You have an employer and therefore have income protection coverage in the event of illness.
• You are receiving an unemployment, sickness or salary-linked WGA benefit.
• You have taken out voluntary income protection coverage (‘vrijwillige verzekering’) in the event of illness or occupational disability.
• Your employment contract has ended but the date on which you adopted or fostered a child was within 10 weeks of your employment ending.
• Your unemployment or sickness benefit has ended but the date on which you adopted or fostered a child was within 10 weeks of your benefit ending.

Please note: If you and your partner both have income protection coverage via your employers, you will both be entitled to adoption or foster care pay.

You will be entitled to a maximum of 6 weeks’ adoption or foster care pay. You must take this paid leave somewhere between 4 weeks before the child’s arrival and 22 weeks after.

You must take all of this leave in one go if you are receiving a benefit or have voluntary income protection coverage. But if you have an employer, you can discuss the option of spreading your leave over a longer period of time. Your employer will only be able to refuse such a request if they have serious business reasons for doing so.

You will be entitled to the equivalent of your full average daily income (‘dagloon’) while receiving adoption or foster care pay. Keep in mind if you have voluntary income protection coverage, you will only receive the amount you are covered for (this might be less than your average daily income).

We will transfer the adoption or foster care payments directly to you if you do not have an employer. If you do have an employer, you can come to an agreement with them about whether the payments should be transferred directly to you or to your employer. In most cases, the payments will be transferred directly to your employer so that they can continue paying your salary in the same way they always have.

• You must ensure the information you give us is accurate (for example, your contact details, your income, your living situation).
• You must inform us of a change in your circumstances within 1 week of that change occurring (for example, if your contact details change, your living situation changes, you find a job or move abroad).

If you adopt or foster 2 or more children at the same time, you will not receive a higher benefit than if you had adopted or fostered 1 child. You will also not be entitled to more leave.

But if you adopt or foster one or more children first and then another child at a later date, you will receive adoption or foster care pay both times. You will also be entitled to 6 weeks’ leave each time.

Please note: You might want to work less hours, once your adoption or foster care pay ends, so you have more time with your child. Find out more about taking paid and unpaid parental leave to care for your child.