Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Amendments to Laws on State Benefits for Families Raising Children"

The Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Amendments to Laws on State Benefits for Families Raising Children" is aimed at increasing the level of minimum guarantees for citizens during their social vulnerability.

The Law introduces the following innovations.

1. Increase in the minimum benefit amount for pregnancy and childbirth, including for women who:

pay mandatory insurance contributions to the budget of the state non-budgetary social protection fund for the population and have less than 6 months of service (young specialists, women starting their careers) – from 50 percent of the BPC (209 rubles) to 100 percent of the minimum wage (626 rubles) per month;

did not pay mandatory insurance contributions for social insurance to the fund's budget and are entitled to this type of benefit (students, female students, women in service, women registered as unemployed) – from 50 percent of the BPC (209 rubles) to 100 percent of the BPC (418 rubles) per month.

2. Increase in the minimum benefit amount for temporary disability for childcare for insured women with less than 6 months of service, from 50 percent of the BPC to 100 percent of the minimum wage (similar to the pregnancy and childbirth benefit).

3. Increase in the level of social protection for certain categories of families when granting benefits for children over 3 years of age, including:

maintaining the right to its granting for families with minor children, in which a child with a disability reaches the age of 18, is assigned group I disability, and one of the parents takes care of him/her and receives the corresponding benefit (currently, the benefit payment stops when the child with a disability reaches 18 years of age);

granting this benefit for a child raised in a single-parent family, if the child's father, who is obliged to pay alimony, is undergoing compulsory military service or alternative service (currently, the mother does not receive alimony for the child during this period).

4. Strengthening support for families raising a child with a disability, including:

granting parents the right to receive all types of state benefits during the period of short-term stay of a child with a disability in a children's home due to the provision of medical and social assistance to him;

expanding the rights to receive temporary disability benefits for caring for a child with a disability for the period of his sanatorium treatment, medical rehabilitation, if the family has several children with disabilities. It is proposed to grant the right to receive:

benefits to another person (not a parent), if the parent is busy caring for another child with a disability;

two benefits, if both children with disabilities require sanatorium treatment and rehabilitation during the same period and are accompanied by different persons.

5. Stricter control over the targeted use of state benefits for families where cases of children being in an unfavorable environment for them have been identified, including:

the obligation of state bodies, organizations that award and pay benefits, to provide information about benefit recipients and their family members without the consent of citizens upon requests from educational institutions conducting social investigations into such families, as well as commissions for juvenile affairs;

termination of benefit payments from the date of entry into force of a court decision to remove a child, or the date of adoption by the guardianship and trusteeship authority or the commission for juvenile affairs of a decision to remove a child.