At some point I question why people want to have children if their idea of "raising a child" is shipping them off as early as possible to have someone else raise them. Sure, situations vary, but it feel like these sorts of incentives eventually encourage parents not to parent.

Example of some incentives where I live:

- Pregnant women can start working 6 hours a day at full pay from week 12.

- Up to two years of paternity leave at ~80% pay, capped at roughly 3x the median wage. Either parent can take this, or it can be split.

- 3 weeks of paternity leave after giving birth for the father.

This means a couple can muddle through the first two years of a child's live without worrying about paying for day care of having to quit jobs.

Note that this incentives are country-wide and available for all citizens. The government pays you indirectly while you are in paternity leave.

How does this encourage not parenting?

Broadly that falls under the category of "development" and will have the opposite effect, lowering birth rates, and that's fine. Finland has all of that and more -- in addition to high wages and low inequality. They'll even mail you a box of supplies when you have a child. They have a birth rate of 1.48 vs Canada's 1.5 vs US 1.77

Yes, we should have those things.

No, they won't increase birth rates, they'll probably drive them down. I know it's counterintuitive, but they data is very clear.