By Ann Peter BUDAPEST & hild care in Hungary begins with the first twinkle in the potential parents eyes by which time, it is hoped, a responsible deci- sion has been made on raising a family. Sec- ondary school students learn about family planning at age 14, and, before marriage, couples are expected to seek medical advice on methods of birth control most suited to them. Abortion is legal in‘ Hungary and free under the national health care service. The stress, as in all matters of health, however, is on prevention. Contraceptives are as easily obtainable as pharmaceuticals on a physi- cians prescription. Freda Brown, president of the Women’s International Democratic Federation, said on a recent visit to Hungary that it was good that Hungarian women have the legal right to abortion. ‘‘But what is especially good,” she said, ‘is that they can have children when they want them.” Ms. Brown was not referring to general conditions in Hungary but to the specific provisions of Hungarian law for motherhood and child welfare. For here, care of mother and child is not left to chance or individual circumstance but is regarded as a State re- sponsibility. Concern begins with free pre-natal care available to all pregnant women, married or not. Pregnant women may not be employed at physically dangerous jobs and if this en- tails job transfers no reduction in earnings is allowed. No woman may be dismissed dur- ing pregnancy or denied employment for that reason. She may go on paid sick leave whenever and for as long as necessary and all get 20 weeks maternity leave at full pay. To ensure proper care for small children during sickness, a parent may remain at home with full sick leave pay for an unli- mited time with a sick infant under one year of age, for 60 days with children between the age of one and three years and for 30 days with children between three and six years of age. This, together with the fact that 98% of all babies today are delivered at hospitals against the 27% in 1941 accounts, in part, for the reduction in infant mortality to less than one quarter of what it was before the coun- try’s liberation. In the 10 years since the Hungarian gov- ernment resolved to enable working mothers to remain at home with their children for the first three years if they choose, one million have decided to do so. They have received State allowances so far amounting te 30 bil- lion forints. Presently, 280,000 mothers are on child-care leave (81% of those eligible). The State monthly allowance is a modest one, 800 forints for the first child, 900 for the second and 1,000 for the third child. . Although staying away from work entails some sacrifice in immediate income, self- advancement and the social life which work provides, mothers find compensation in the greater well-being of their babies, especially in cases where infants do not react well to nursery conditions. This also helps solve the problem of placement in nurseries since there are still not enough places to accom- modate all the children. The pre-school kin- dergarten can already accommodate 80% of the three to six year olds but by the end of this five year plan (1980) all in that age group will be accommodated. The State starts the infant off in life with a gift of 2,500 forints (the average montly earn- ings of women workers). The trade unions generally present a monetary gift sufficient to buy at least a complete layette and other immediate baby needs. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 29, 1977—Page 6 The ABC’s of childcare in Hungary As soon as the baby is brought from the hospital into its new home surroundings the local district pediatrician and visiting nurse arrive to offer assistance and advice. From then on, the baby gets regular free medical attention and the care of a visiting nurse when necessary. The pre-school kindergartens for three to six year olds are highly satisfactory institu- tions because the children learn, under pro- fessional supervision, how to live and play in harmony with others, preparing them also for school conditions. : Shoko Jamane, a Japanese kindergarten teacher who spent a year studying the work with Hungarian children, when asked what she considered the best feature of kindergar- tens, said: ee “The uniform system. In Japan each kin- dergarten teacher teaches in the way she considers best. In Hungary, all teachers « work on the basis of the same well-defined principles and methods. For example, the only difference I found between Budapest and the countryside kindergartens was that “the children selected different subjects for their drawings because these were based on their immediate environment. But there is ‘no difference in their level of training and “development and they-can all start school with equal preparedness.” The nurseries and kindergartens are built either by the place of work for their own employees or by the local councils which take children irrespective of where their pa- — rents are employed. Those belonging to workplaces have the advantage of providing better immediate placement opportunities, but traveling with babies or young children during rush hours is neither easy nor heal- thy. Therefore concentration in recent years has been on building neighborhood nursery schools. This has led parents, and particu- larly socialist brigade members, to voluntar- ily pitch in to hasten the building work. Prac- tically everyday now one reads of a new nur- sery school being opened. Parents only pay a fraction of the cost of their children’s care, the lion’s share — four-fifths is provided by the State. The State also helps to ease the material burden of raising children by paying a family allowance to those with at least two children. This financial support continues until the children reach age 16, or in the case of stu- dents until 19 years of age. The family al- lowance is 600 forints a month for two chil- dren, 960 for three children and 320 forints for each additional child. (The exchange rate is 20 forints to the dollar, but what has to be borne in mind when converting these figures into dollars is that the forint in Hungary goes a much longer way than the dollar in the | US.) As a result of the constant improvement in child welfare assistance and extended en- lightenment on family planning, abortions between 1973 and 1975 were reduced by al- most half and the birth rate has been growing steadily. All this does not mean that there are no problem children in Hungary. There: are children who are still left too much to their _ own devices either because of neglect by pa- rents or because there is still not enough room in after-school classes. Divorce which is easily obtained if by mutual agreement, often has an adverse effect on children. Though children are taken from parents only in extreme cases, this must be done when the family situation has so deteriorated as to prove harmful to them. Such children are placed in children’s homes where they get thoughful care and the utmost consideration. The Youth Law adopted by Parliament in 1971 was a big advance in focusing attention on youth problems. The Youth Law states that: ‘‘The Hungarian People’s Republic en- sures the right of youth to employment, edu- cation, rest, physical education and sport; develops the conditions for these; rec- _ognizes youth’s right to organizational life; -takes particular care to adjust young people in their work, their participation in public affairs, cultural assurance of the use of their leisure time and the founding of a family.” A State Youth Council responsible di- rectly to the government was formed as 4 watchdog to ensure that the letter of the Youth Law is strictly observed. Youth Par-. liaments are held every two years at which young people take account of how their prob- lems are being solved.