Services and benefits

Respite care service

The aim of a substitute care service is to safeguard the child's well-being and rights in the short or long term, to provide the child with family-like living conditions to meet his or her basic needs, to create a secure living environment conducive to the child's development, and to prepare the child for adult life. A foster care provider is a foster family, a family home or a substitute home.

Aftercare service

The aim of aftercare is to support young people leaving care and guardianship to cope independently and continue their studies.

Both substitute and aftercare services are organised by child protection specialists from the Social Work Service of Valga Municipality:

Support services provide support, motivation, guidance and development to enable the adult and child beneficiary to cope as independently as possible in situations where, due to social, economic, psychological or health problems, the person needs a significant degree of assistance in fulfilling his or her responsibilities and exercising his or her rights.

The provision of the service, the objectives to be achieved by the service and the activities to be carried out are decided by the child protection officers of the Valga Municipality Social Work Service.

In case of need, please contact the social work service of Valga Municipality to get support.

The aim of the mental health service is to support a person's mental health through counselling or other professional activities that support psychosocial well-being. The service is governed by the Valga Municipality Council Decree No 89 of 25.10.2019 "Procedures for granting social assistance " paragraph 22¹

Referrals to mental health services are made by a social work service officer, who determines whether the service is free or at a reduced price. Therefore, if you need the service, you should first contact your social worker or child protection worker. Contact

The service is provided on the basis of the person's need, for up to 8 hours (45 minutes) per financial year. One counselling session is usually 2×45 minutes. In Valga municipality, three types of services are available on preferential terms: individual psychological counselling, family counselling, play therapy.

If there is a referral, the person must contact the service provider themselves to arrange an appointment (date and time).

There are four mental health service providers in Valga municipality with service contracts valid until 31.12.2025:

The childbirth grant is €430, paid in three instalments:

• €230 after the birth of a child;
• EUR 100 when the child reaches the age of one and a half;
• EUR 100 when the child reaches the age of 3.

One parent whose place of residence is registered in Valga municipality can apply for the allowance. The child's first place of residence at birth must also be registered in Valga municipality. In order to be eligible for the 2nd and 3rd parts of the allowance, the child and one parent must have their place of residence continuously registered in Valga municipality.
How to apply for a childbirth grant

The fixed allowance is a one-off payment when a child starts in class 1, the amount of which is. EUR 160. The residence of the parent applying for the allowance and the child attending the school must be registered in the municipality of Valga.

When a child enters the first grade, the educational institution submits the corresponding entries to the Estonian Education Information System (hereinafter EHIS). Normally these entries are made by 10 September at the latest. As officials will only be able to deal with applications once the child's details have been entered in EHIS, we recommend that applications start from 10 September. The social work service of Valga Municipality is in charge of processing the support.

What can the grant cover?
The satchel allowance is intended to help parents of children starting their first year at school with school fees.

How to apply?
The support is formalised at the Social Work Service of Valga Municipality. Declaration  can be filled in on the spot, by post or electronically. No separate certificate of enrolment is required unless the child is studying abroad.

Applying for a ranit subsidy

The school education allowance for families with three or more children is an annual allowance for families with three or more children up to the age of 19 attending school on a full-time basis or in the case of distance learning for the acquisition of basic education.

The amount of the grant is EUR 130 per calendar year.

One of the parents registered as a resident of Valga municipality is entitled to apply for the allowance, and the children's place of residence must also be registered in Valga municipality.

Applying for school allowance for families with three or more children