A new government-paid parental leave entitlement of four months has been implemented in Belgium for employees who provide foster care to a child for at least six months. This change took effect on 1 July 2025.
Background
The measure is part of the Federal Program Law (the “Law”) which was adopted by Parliament on 17 July 2025 and published in the Belgian Official Gazette on 29 July 2025. Under the Law, the provisions on the new entitlement to parental leave for foster parents entered into force retroactively on 1 July 2025 and apply to any employee requests submitted on or after 1 July 2025.
Key details
Under the Law, an employee who has been appointed by a court, an approved foster care placement service, or community services for youth protection to provide long-term foster care of at least six months will be entitled to paid parental leave to care for the child. Parental leave may only be taken after the child is registered as the employee’s family member in the population register or in the register of foreigners for the municipality in which the employee resides and as long as the child is not older than 12 years old (or 21 years old, if the child has a disability) as of the leave start date.
The terms of the parental leave (also known as thematic leave) will mirror those for legal and adoptive parents:
To qualify for parental leave, the employee must have at least 12 months of service within the 15 months preceding the application for parental leave.
The employee is entitled to a maximum of four months of parental leave, which may be taken consecutively in full or in non-consecutive periods of 1 month or a multiple thereof. The employee may also choose to utilize all or some parental leave for reduced working hours by half, a fifth, or (if the employer agrees) a tenth. More details on reduced working hours may be found on the National Employment Office’s website here (opens a new window).
If two employees, regardless of gender, are appointed as foster parents of the same child, both will be entitled to parental leave of up to four months each.
During parental leave, the employee is entitled to receive a fixed lump sum interruption allowance (opens a new window) from the National Employment Office (from 1 February 2025: EUR 1,038.11 per month, which increases to EUR 1,768.56 for a single parent). Employers are not required to pay employees their salary during parental leave.
The employee must give written notice to the employer two to three months before the intended start date and provide proof of the placement of the foster child to the employer by the start date of parental leave.
Additional information about the new right and application procedures, including the specific forms of proof to be provided by the employee to the employer, are available in the National Employment Office’s information sheets T14 (opens a new window) and T19 (opens a new window).
Employer action: ACT
Employers should review these changes and update their family leave handbooks, policies and practices accordingly.
Further Information
