FAMILY DAY CARE AT RISK

Funding cuts spell trouble for hundreds of city’s children

FAMILY day care in Geelong is under threat with Federal Government funding cuts placing the council-run service in jeopardy. Corio MP Richard Marles described the planned cuts as a “recipe for disaster for families”.

ONE of Geelong’s most accessible and affordable forms of childcare, the councilrun family day care program, is under threat because of impending funding cuts.

About 350 children in the City of Greater Geelong are cared for by family day care educators.

Parents pay between $8 and $13 an hour to have a child looked after in a carer’s home.

But the program’s peak body says families will be slugged, on average, an extra $35 a week when the Federal Government cuts funding from July 1. Social Services Minister Scott Morrison said the changes were needed because the previous funding model was “unsustainable” and “inequitable”.

The cuts forced Melbourne’s City of Whitehorse to announce last week it would scrap its family day care program, while the City of Greater Geelong says it will have to compromise its service and sack support staff.

Last year’s federal Budget flagged the Government’s plan to strip $157 million from the family day care program by tightening rules around how educators claimed “operational support” funding.

Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons wrote to Mr Morrison to express the city’s concerns, while Corio MP Richard Marles raised the issue in Federal Parliament last week.

Mr Marles said family day care provided “a much-needed and valuable service, often where there are no alternative forms of child care available”.

“(The) proposed changes to funding for family day care will be a recipe for disaster for families in Geelong and pose a real risk to the capacity for high quality and affordable care to be provided,” he said.

“The mums and dads of Geelong deserve better.”

But Mr Morrison said family day care took a disproportionate share of community support program (CSP) funding claimed by childcare providers.

“(An audit) found over 70 per cent of CSP funding was provided to family day care services, despite them caring for only 10 per cent of the children in approved care,” he said. “These changes will bring CSP eligibility criteria for family day care services into line with those that apply to other service types, such as long day care and outside schools hours care.”

He said childcare benefits claimed by families would not change.

CoGG acting general manager of community services Linda Quinn said Cr Lyons’ letter asked Mr Morrison to reconsider the changes.

“If the proposed changes take effect in their current form and timeframe, council will inevitably be forced to increase parent fees and reduce operating costs through a decrease in support staff,” Ms Quinn said.

Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson also spoke about childcare in Federal Parliament last week, describing her challenges finding suitable care for nine-year-old son Jeremy, saying the Government wanted to improve flexibility of care options.

“I think that is one area where the previous government did not have enough focus because in this modern age we do not live in a nine-tofive world,” Ms Henderson said.

She said Mr Morrison would visit her electorate on March 20 for forums on the new families’ package.