Family day care providers will ‘feel the heat’ following federal cuts

By Jessica Yun

Cuts in the Federal Budget mean families in the inner west will have to pay more for family day care services, according to Anthony Albanese.

From July 2015, existing family day care providers will have to reapply for the Community Support Programme (CSP) which funds these providers. The criteria to be eligible for the CSP will be tightened, meaning several family day care providers will likely lose out. The cost will then have to be covered by families’ out-of-pocket expenses.

“It’ll put more pressure on families, and means that some will make a determination to not return to work. Either that or they’ll have to be worse off with an extra 35 dollars a week potentially as a result of the cut,” said Anthony Albanese.

Family Day Care Australia, the national peak body supporting the quality of family day care, has launched a campaign ‘Families Need Family Day Care’ to call the government to review the changes to the CSP.

Spokesperson Sasha Westwood says Family Day Care Australia is in the midst of conducting a nation-wide review of its members to better gauge which service providers will be impacted and how.

“It’s been a really nerve-wracking time for a lot of services just determining whether they will receive this funding or not.”

The Infants Home Child & Family Services is a family day care provider in the inner west that receives funding from the Community Service Programme. CEO Anita Kumar says The Infants Home focuses on disadvantaged children and families, and many of the parents will not be able to cope with the added costs.

“This massive increase is unsustainable, as the majority of our families will not be able to afford the increase with an already stretched budget,” said Ms Kumar.

“These cuts are devastating; they mark the beginning of the end of quality family day care.”

Working mother of two Vicky Han makes use of The Infant Home’s family day care services.  Her two year old daughter has been with an educator at The Infants Home for eighteen months. Her concern is not just the burden of additional costs, but also the quality of the service and changes to her own schedule.

“I work 4 days a week and [my daughter] will be in care four days a week, so is that feasible?” said Ms Han.

“It becomes too expensive.”