Parents could qualify for a €330 social welfare payment as a result of a recent rule change.
Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys recently signed new regulations which will make sure that Domiciliary Care Allowance is paid out to families of children who remain in hospital after their birth. Previously, Domiciliary Care Allowance was only paid in respect of children who were being cared for at home or who were subsequently admitted to hospital but the new changes mean that children who remain in hospital after birth also qualify for the payment, says RSVP Live.
Approximately 100 children and their families will benefit from the rule change, according to a government release. In Budget 2022, the timeframe for which the allowance is paid for children who are subsequently admitted to hospital was also doubled from 13 weeks to 26 weeks.
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To qualify, the child must have a severe disability that is likely to last for at least 1 year and:
Be aged under 16 (at 16, the child can apply for a Disability Allowance - see 'How to apply' below for more information)
Live at home with the person claiming the allowance for 5 or more days a week. However, there are some exceptions to this – see ‘Living a home’ below.
Meet the medical criteria - see below
Be ordinarily resident in the State
In addition, the person claiming the allowance for the child must:
Provide for the care of the child
Be habitually resident in the State.
Certain medical criteria also must be met in order to qualify for Domiciliary Care Allowance. The law states that eligible children must have "a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age."
A child's eligibility for DCA is not based on the type of impairment but, rather, on the lack of function that results in the child requiring additional care. A medical assessor will examine a number of criteria to ensure that your child meets the requirements. You can read more about that here.
Speaking of the new regulations, Minister Humphreys commented: "I’m really pleased to announce these important new measures, which will support parents and families during what can be an extremely stressful time in their lives. We have had situations in the past whereby children with a severe illness or disability have had to remain in hospital immediately after their birth.
"But up until now, Domiciliary Care Allowance was not paid in respect of these cases and this is something that I was particularly keen to address. We estimate that around 100 children and their families will benefit each year as a result of these changes that I am putting into effect from today.
"While this impacts a small number of people nationwide, I know it will mean an awful lot to the families who find themselves in these very difficult situations."
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