It is important for soon-to-be parents as well as those still in the planning stages to know what services the state and local governments offer, said Nele Labi, deputy secretary general for innovation, according to a ministry press release.

"Until now, it has been quite difficult for new parents to find all the info they need," Labi acknowledged. "There are many nuances that can affect families' lives — for example, the conditions for receiving [one-time] childbirth benefits vary by local government, and the system and amount of state family benefits change from time to time as well."

Which is why the state has now gathered info regarding state services and benefits into a single, comprehensive Parents' Roadmap, which covers all the way through a child's third birthday, the ministry official explained.

"We want parents to be aware of all the support opportunities offered by the state, so that everyone can utilize them in a timely manner," Labi said.

The new roadmap includes an interactive timeline, where various events are outlined, and related actions that future parents should take within a specific timeframe in order not to miss out on benefits available to them.

Also included on the page are articles on various important topics, which include links to relevant services and legislation.

"This is a very important IT project to provide e-government services to parents as logically and user-oriented as possible," said Margus Arm, director of the Health and Welfare Information Systems Center (TEHIK).

According to Arm, developing the centralized resource required the consolidation of individual services into one life event service, which involved cross-institutional collaboration.

"Everyone had their own role in this project: TEHIK developed an information service and combined it with Information System Authority (RIA) components," he explained.

Services to provide one-stop shop for info

According to Joonas Heiter, director of the RIA, work on the first two life event-related information services available on eesti.ee was completed last month.

"We plan to add at least eight more similar sections to the state portal, where people can easily access important information," Heiter said.

The information service for having a child is part of a series of event-based services being developed by the Estonian state. The project aims to create a unified environment in which, faced with this or that event in their life, one can access the information they need and utilize the relevant public services as conveniently and simply as possible, the Social Affairs Ministry said.

This service has been developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the RIA and TEHIK. Event-based services are financed from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

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