Reform of the additional pension insurance quarters granted for children

Article 65 of the 2010 social security financing act rewrites Article L. 351-4 of the Social Security Code following a Court of Cassation ruling of 19 February 2009 holding that the former two-year credit reserved for mothers breached Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Each child gives entitlement to eight quarters: four quarters granted to the mother for maternity (pregnancy and childbirth) and four quarters for raising the child during the four years following birth or adoption, which parents assign to one of them or share. For children born before 2010, the child-raising quarters go to the mother unless the father proves he raised the child alone. Four quarters are also granted for adoption.