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Struggling in Brussels
Hello I am a separated mother living in Brussels. I am a foreigner. My situation is very complicated I have no family or support system. I am qualified to work here and I do speak French. I have found myself isolated since I left my husband due to abuse. I have been searching for employment for 9 months with no luck. I have now reached the stage where I no longer have enough money to feed my children or myself. I can no longer keep up with my bills. I am not eligible for unemployment money or assistance from the Cpas. I am in complete dispair.and I don’t have any more options. I am unable to accept certain jobs because I have to take care of my children and their father is unwilling to help. I can not leave the country or else I have to leave my children behind. I’v slipped into a depression and I was wondering if anyone could possibly help me with some ideas on what to do.
Thank you
Don't be too hard on the OP. Some people find it hard to go from a situation where they are "kept" by their partners to having to provide for themselves and children without a partner.
You can get Mon-Fri child care at creche / school from 7.00 to 19.00 in most areas of Brussels and Brabant, so putting children into child care is normal.
Go phone and email all private schools in the area, teaching assistant jobs come up regularly. And TS as already mentioned.
I was in a similar situation, albeit I did have a local job of about 12 hours already. It was bloody hard to find my feet, fight for maintenance through 3 courts I was taken to (I won all) and increase hours. I barely see my kids some weeks, I now work such long hours. But my kids are housed and fed by me, not the father, I could not afford time to be unemployed.
I have just had an annual report from my mutuelle listing the services that they offer. They give free advice on 'social situations' such as yours. I've no idea whether this is something offered by all mutuelles but it is worth checking whether your mutuelle does.
Good luck
And, for the benefit of Paradox, if you put your kids in day care you have to pay up front. If you are living hand-to-mouth this is usually impossible.
As you state that you are a foreigner, I assume you are not a Belgian citizen. Is your ex-husband a Belgian citizen? What about your children? I'm asking because if you are not able to support yourself financially and will eventually get support from the state, it's my understanding that the authorities can at some point ask you to leave the country, even if you are an EU citizen. The right to free movement in EU member states only applies if you able to support yourself, either by working or with independent means.
Actually, it's simply not true you "pay upfront" for child care. It is very individual and if the children are under 3, there are MANY social solutions in the Brussels area at least, I've met several women in precarious situaations achieve child care at very low cost who do not pay upfront.
Thank you very much for those of you with managed to respond constructively and with compassion. Firstly I would like to clarify that I am not asking for money this is an advice page and I posted my questions looking for advice not judgment. I am not a citizen of this country and now that I am on my own with my children I need assistance navigating a system that is often complicated and next to impossible to figure due to language barriers, disputes on a government level depending on which commune you live in and many more things might I add even for Belgian people. I am a qualified language teacher. I am on waiting lists for many schools. There is work with private language schools but the reason I can not accept all of these jobs is because the hours for the classes are during after school activities including Wednesdays until 6pm. I could leave my children at school every day except Wednesday but I will not be on time to pick them up. These jobs although sometimes available are very irregular but I am not complaining or looking for excuses. Child care even if it is provided by the commune is not free it costs at least €150 a child per month and there are no possibilities for a Wednesday not in my commune anyway. If my original post was not clear enough I can afford extra child care. I am in the process of trying to get more maintenance but this will take time as the justice system here is very slow. I am prepared to work and it is not a question of having time to be unemployed. I have run out of ideas and I’m looking for advice. Thank you very much for your responses.
I cannot afford extra child care sorry
My children are 3 , 6 and 9 years old.
The overwhelming majority of - err - "expats" have no experience whatsoever of living in Belgium with no work income or CPAS.
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You may well need to look elsewhere for advice and to find people who know how to "work" the system better.
Now you've said what your work is, contacting the private international schools might well bring you some work, especially if you have experience of teaching children. I happen to know of a job in a private school coming up in 2 weeks. Only a few jobs in the private schools go beyond 18.00.
I think you might have to adjust your "cannot work after 18.00" however or swap the children's schools. Some schools have garderie to 18.30 or even 19.00 (though 19.00 are rare). Look at also garderie fees at local schools, they do vary from 0.50 per hour to 4 euro per hour. Swapping schools might mean a far lower garderie bill. A typical garderie cost is however 1 euro per hour. The maximum number of garderie hours per week, 7.30 to 18.30 is 23 hours so 23 euro is what you can expect X 3 children is 69 euro per week X 38 weeks = 2622 euro per year. Then add on commune subsidized child care for 10 further holiday weeks at 50 euro per week X 3 = 450 euro + 2622 = 3072 euro per year - tax deduction (you're almost always under the max 11.20 per day) of approx 1000 off = 2072 euro per year / 52 weeks = about 40 euro per week average child care costs! You need to look at this over a whole year. Then add on anything you pay a babysitter from 18.30 onwards if necessary.
You might just have to accept paying someone 10 euro per hour to take your children home after garderie time. That 10 euro per hour might give you access to more work, so you would need to look at how much extra you can earn over the whole day, not just the fact the last hour of the day you are making nothing because what you're earning is spent on child care. 10 euro per day X 5 days = 50 euro per week X 38 weeks = 1900 euro per year for that extra hour from 18.30 to 19.30 per day if necessary. None of that is tax deductible but might be necessary to get a job. Even if it' just for 1 hour per day, at 10 euro per hour, that opens up the ability to work from 7.30 to 19.30 5 days per week. That is a 12 hour period to work in a day.
If you go on Facebook, you will find a couple of BCT support groups for single parents and divorced parents. You'll find much better support there than here where many of the respondents have never gone through this and hopefully never will.
There are certain steps you can take, if not already taken, to make living cost less.
1 record every single cost and I mean everything. Divide into the categories the court uses. Try and reduce all categories to minimum, some will be hard like utilities, some easy like non essentials. For example, if you have a car, give it up and take the free stib pass you lost get for a year through bruxellair. If your kids do lots of expensive after school activities, cut back. If you buy lots of clothes, get free ones by swapping.
2 child benefit single parent low income supplement, claim it
3 intervention majoree status, claim it, gets you a 85 euro stib pass and other reductions.
4 famille nombreuse cards, reductions in trains and other things, claim them.
5 cheapest holiday stages, look for them. Egypt parcel Parmentier, means tested, 40 euro for week including hot meals.
6 mutuelle child care reimbursements, Egypt partenamht 100 euro per year.
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