Family day care centres have almost doubled in the southeast to address vacancies for children under two
THERE has been an explosion of family day care centres springing up across the southeast in response to a shortage of vacancies for children under two.
City East
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THERE has been an explosion of family day care centres springing up across the southeast in response to a shortage of vacancies for children under two.
Since 2013, the number of centres providing at home care for groups of four children under five has almost doubled in Maroubra, Matraville, Randwick, Kingsford, Kensington and Daceyville.
Natalia Duganov, from Magic Bunny House Family Day Care at Kingsford, which has two vacancies, said she had been struggling to fill her spots since January and until last week had seven place available.
“Before I had been able to fill vacancies within four to five week,” she said.
“The situation has changed this year. Quite a few new childcare centres have opened in the area or the eastern suburbs.
“Not many parents hear about family day care enough. It’s great, especially for babies and young children as we only have small groups of four. There is more one-on-one attention.”
Centres, which must be accredited with a family day care service, usually operate in a qualified childcare worker’s home and cater for up to four youngsters under five but only one baby at a time under 12-months.
Helen Rateau, who set-up Rhythm and Rhyme Family Day Care at Randwick three years ago after the birth of her second child, said many new centres had set up to “fill the void” of childcare places.
“Since I opened there have been about 15 to 20 new family day care centres,” she said. “In the last 12 months in particular, there have been a lot that have opened.”
A spokeswoman for Waverley Family Day Care, which has 10 accredited providers in Maroubra, Matraville, Randwick, Kingsford, Kensington and Daceyville, said the number had almost doubled since 2013 with eight more waiting for accreditation. Botany Bay Family Day Care now has 23 registered educators with three signing up in the past 12 months.
Helene Zampetakis, who operates Helene’s Family Daycare in Randwick and has one vacancy two days a week, said in the past 12 months new childcare and family day care centres were “popping up everywhere”.
She said family day care was popular with parents as many believed it was the best way for young children to settle into their first experience of being away from their families.
“It provides a small, homely setting with just three other children and one consistent adult so it’s like a tailored, boutique service,” Ms Zampetakis said.
In the suburb of Randwick, the baby producing capital of Sydney’s east, there is still a shortage of places at childcare centres for youngsters under two with just one reporting vacancies last week.
But six family day care operators in Randwick are offering places for babies and young toddlers, according to Care For Kids.
Siobhan Finegan, owner of Wee Wonders Childcare at Chifley, said some existing centres were operating under capacity due to a large number of childcare facilities being built catering for the two to five age group.
With big centres accepting up to 100 children and a flood of new centres opening up, Ms Finegan said there should be stricter regulations to ensure any new facilities “meet the needs of the community” which included caring for babies and toddlers under two years old.
From January 1, new regulations required NSW childcare centres to increase their child-teacher ratios to one educator for every three youngsters under two and one for every five children aged between two and three.
This forced many operators to increase their fees to pay for extra staff.
“There has been a massive change in the childcare industry,” Ms Finegan said.
As a result, boutique facilities like her centre ‒ which cares for 35 children from six weeks old – could be forced out of business, she added.
This week is National Family Day Care Week to recognise the 220,420 Australian children enrolled in family day care.
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