Financial assistance — at birth
Family Allowance
Retraite Québec
The Family Allowance is a form of financial assistance that comprises, in addition to the Family Allowance per se, the supplement for the purchase of school supplies for children age 4 to 16, the supplement for handicapped children and the supplement for handicapped children requiring exceptional care.
Family Allowance payment
If your child was born in Québec, you do not need to file an application in order to receive the Family Allowance. Your newborn will be registered automatically when you declare the birth to the Directeur de l’état civil. Retraite Québec will contact you in the weeks following your child’s birth.
However, if your child was adopted or was born outside Québec even though you live in Québec, you must file an application with Retraite Québec in order to receive the Family Allowance payment. To file your application for Family Allowance, access My file. It is easy, quick and secure. You can choose your preferences for receiving communications and documents in digital mode only or in a personalized manner. You can also enter your email address or cellphone number to receive notifications when changes are made to your file, for instance, when a document is filed or when you receive follow-up on an application.
You can also use the Application for Family Allowance online service on the Retraite Québec website. Finally, if one parent does not have a SIN, you must download the Application for Family Allowance form, complete it and send it to Retraite Québec using the Sending a document online service.
How the amount of the payment is calculated?
Every year, Retraite Québec calculates the amount of the the Family Allowance to which you are entitled on the basis of four criteria:
- the number of dependent children under 18 years of age who live with you in Québec
- the number of children in shared custody
- your family income, i.e. the total of your and your spouse’s net incomes, as the case may be
- your conjugal status (with or without a spouse)
To enable Retraite Québec to calculate the amount to which you are entitled, you and your spouse must each file a Québec income tax return every year, even if one of you have no income to declare.
Following any change in your family situation (changes related to child custody) or your conjugal status (with or without a spouse), you or your spouse must quickly contact Retraite Québec. The amount of your Family Allowance will have to be recalculated on the basis of the changes related to custody arrangements or your conjugal status.
Supplement for handicapped children
Additional financial assistance may be paid to parents with a child under 18 years of age who has an impairment or a mental function disability that substantially limits the child in carrying out his or her life habits during a foreseeable period of at least one year. Life habits encompass the activities that a child must carry out, depending on his or her age, with respect to personal care and social life.
To be eligible for such financial assistance, you must already be receiving the Family Allowance for that child.
Supplement for handicapped children requiring exceptional care
The supplement for handicapped children requiring exceptional care may be paid to parents with a child under 18 years of age who has physical impairments or a mental function disability causing severe and multiple disabilities that prevent the child from carrying out his or her life habits, or whose health condition requires complex medical care at home administered by the mother or father after receiving training in a specialized centre. The disabilities or care must be expected to last for at least one year. Depending on the severity of the condition and his or her age, the child can be eligible for Tier 1 – granting a higher amount – or Tier 2 of the supplement.
To be eligible for such financial assistance, you must already be receiving the Family Allowance and the supplement for handicapped children for that child.
For more information on the Family Allowance and the supplements, visit the “Children” section of the Retraite Québec website.
Online
www.retraitequebec.gouv.qc.ca
By telephone
Québec area: 418-643-3381
Montréal area: 514-864-3873
Elsewhere in Québec: 1-800-667-9625
Special benefits: Nursing and purchase of infant formula
Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale
Special nursing benefit
If you receive benefits under the Social Assistance Program or Social Solidarity Program or Aim for Employment Program, and wish to breast-feed your baby, you are eligible for a special nursing benefit.
This special benefit of $55 per month for each dependent nursing child under 12 months of age is in addition to your monthly financial assistance. To apply for this benefit, you must, upon the birth of your child, provide a Services Québec office with the attestation of birth and a verbal or written declaration specifying the nursing period.
If you stop nursing your child, you must inform a Services Québec office or the Centre de communication avec la clientèle of the Ministère du Travail, de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale.
Special benefits for the purchase of infant formula
If you receive benefits under the Social Assistance or Social Solidarity programs or Aim for Employment Program, you can buy infant formula for less than the regular price.
If you have a dependent child under 9 months of age, you may purchase regular, soy-based or lactose-free liquid concentrate infant formula at a lower cost.
If your child is over 9 months and under 12 months of age and suffers from intolerance to cow’s milk or other specific disorders, you can receive the special benefit to purchase soy-based or lactose-free infant formulas. You must provide a medical certificate or attestation specifying the need.
The infant formula must be purchased at a pharmacy.
To apply for the special benefit for the purchase of infant formula, you must, upon the birth of your child, provide a Services Québec office with the attestation of birth and a declaration confirming the choice of feeding the child with liquid concentrate infant formula. You will be given an authorization number that will give you access to the necessary support for the purchase of infant formula.
You will find the contact information for Services Québec offices and for the Centre de communication avec la clientèle of the Ministère du Travail, de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale in the Contact Us section of the www.quebec.ca website.