All parents know that having a child at home and taking care of it all day is often incompatible with teleworking, which is strongly recommended by the government in the context of health restrictions. The question of custody then arises for many parents and grandparents taken aback since the schools closed.
A four-week closure in all, until April 26, forces families to rethink their organization. Many parents do not have a child care solution, this is where grandparents can help.

Compelling motive

With this new confinement, the 10 km limit must be respected throughout France except in cases of compelling reasons. Fortunately childcare is one of them.

Grandparents will therefore be able to keep their grandchildren even if they do not live in the same municipality or the same region as them. Parents will therefore be able to travel by train or car from one region to another to accompany their children to the grandparents or another member of the family.

It will then be necessary to prove the family tie, and for everything to go well, there are some rules and precautions to take.

Rules for dropping off children

The rules change often, people are a bit confused … so for this new confinement and grandparent custody, here are the new guidelines.

• Travel to bring the children must be outside the curfew, that is to say between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.

• It will also be necessary to complete the exceptional travel certificate that you find on the internet, on the stop covid application or that you can copy by hand.

• It will then suffice to check the box: travel for compelling family reasons, for assistance to vulnerable or precarious people or for childcare.

• You will also need to bring proof that you have no other means of custody as well as a signed sworn certificate.

• You can also take a copy of your family record book, or a letter from the parents if it is the grandparents who make the trip for example. They can indeed also take the car or the train to look after your children from your home.

• In the case of divorced couples, the supporting document may be a copy of the judgment which specifies the type of custody for the children.

That’s a lot of paperwork, but any document that proves the usefulness of this trip will allow you to avoid a fine of 135 euros.

A PCR test before finding the grandparents?

For the safety of all, it is better to make your arrangements and perform a PCR test between 48 and 72 hours before the reunion, to be sure that everyone is negative. This PCR test is not mandatory, it will not be requested by the authorities but it will reassure the whole family, especially if the accompanying persons stay on site.

Regarding the duration of this stay, there is a vagueness. Normally, you are supposed to leave fairly quickly or stay put during the entire confinement, teleworking for example. This is no excuse for a vacation!

Likewise, it is not specified whether you must drop the children off during the entire confinement or just part of it. Thereupon, everyone will do as they can with their constraints.

Maintain barrier gestures

Neither the PCR test nor the vaccine exempt from being very careful and respecting barrier gestures. For the PCR test, there are false negatives but also the possibility of contamination between the time of the test and the arrival. For the vaccine, you are not fully protected, especially if you have only given the first dose.

• According to the health authorities, if you have received the first dose of the vaccine, it does not start to work until “ten to fourteen days” after the injection.
• If you received the second injection, it will take “about two weeks”, like the first, for it to be effective.

Studies tend to say that vaccines protect against transmission and severe forms of the virus. There are still many unknowns so even after these delays, we must remain vigilant.

Barrier gestures must therefore also be respected during this time on call.