ABOUT FAMILY DAYCARE

 

What is family day care?

Family Day Care is an approved form of child care that is provided in the Family Daycare educators own home.

 

• Family day care educators are early childhood education and care professionals, registered with a family day care service that is responsible for approving, supporting, training and advising its educators

 

Though daycare centres no matter how child-friendly and welcoming they are can sometimes seem institutional, home daycare can be the next best thing to your own house. If you find a good provider in your neighborhood your child will feel even more at home.

 

• From a practical viewpoint, a home daycare may be more flexible about pickup and dropoff times and less likely than a center to charge you for every minute you're late.

 

Finally, most home daycare providers are Mums themselves, so you know you're leaving your child with someone who is comfortable caring for babies and children and who probably has a strong mothering instinct. Of course, you and your provider may differ on some child rearing issues, but as long as you find someone who shares your basic caregiving philosophy, the "Mum" factor can be a definite advantage.

 

• One of the most important differences between family day care and child care centres is the very low child to carer ratios, which allow family day care educators and children to develop very strong bonds.

 

In addition, family day care is the only type of approved service offering 24/7 child care providing working Australian families with flexible full-time, part-time, weekend or overnight care depending on the requirements of the parents.

How is it similar to centre based child care?

 

• Family day care provides early childhood education and care services for children across Australia.

• Family day care operates under the same National Quality Framework (NQF) as other forms of childcare; incorporating national regulations, quality and qualification standards, educational frameworks and an assessment and ratings process.

• Parents are eligible to the same Federal Government Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate subsidies.

 

How is it different to other forms of child care?

 

• Your child’s education and care is provided by an individual educator who is an approved, early childhood education and care professional, operating within their own home.

• Educators work with small groups of no more than four children under school age.*

• Educators work in partnership with a local approved service who provide regular visits to monitor the children’s progress and to provide support.

* An educator may care for 3 additional school age children, outside of school hours.

What are the benefits of family day care?

• The home based setting provides a familiar, safe and secure learning environment.

• Current research confirms the importance of strong relationships with significant adults to a child’s early learning; family day care’s small group environment facilitates strong bonds and promotes effective early learning and social development. 

• Family day care can offer care during standard hours, evenings, before/after school, during school holidays and in some cases overnight and weekends.

• Family day care can provide education and care for children from babies to school age;  offering the possibility for siblings to be cared for together, all in one location.

• Family day care provides experiences which reflect the diversity of your community. 

 

Did you know that across Australia:

 

• Family day care has operated for over 40 years.

• Over 110,690* families use family day care.

• Over 192,510* children are enrolled in family day care.

• There are over 27,000** family day care educators.

• There are 750* family day care approved services.

• Family day care is the major provider of regulated, flexible, non standard hours child care.

About family day care educators

Family day care educators are approved, early childhood education and care professionals who engage in the principles and practices of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and work within the requirements of the National Quality Framework.

In order to provide a safe educational environment for your child, there are requirements for all educators to:

 

• Hold or be actively working towards a Certificate III level education and care qualification.

• Meet national standards which include maintaining quality learning programs, safe and hygienic learning environments, record keeping and qualifications. 

• Maintain current first aid and CPR certificates and training in the emergency management of asthma and anaphylaxis.

• Maintain a clearance for working with children.

• Participate in regular support and monitoring visits conducted by their coordination unit.

• Attend training, meetings and workshops periodically to maintain currency of skills and knowledge.

• Maintain current public liability insurance coverage.

 

Quality and accreditation of family day care services
All family day care educators operate under the same government framework as all other forms of child care including centre based care. Under the National Quality Framework, family day care educators also have the same formal qualifications requirements as educators working in centre based care settings.

All educators must also pass a police or criminal history check prior to commencing work in family day care and must be fully insured, have a current first aid certificate and maintain a safe environment.

The Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) is responsible for ensuring family day care services meet the requirements of the National Quality Framework and local coordination units work with individual family day carer educators to ensure high standards across the co-ordination unit or scheme.

What will my child do at family day care?
Depending on the educator and the age of the children, a typical day in family day care may involve:

 

• Playing with toys and the other children

• Drawing and Painting

• Art and craft activities

• Educational activities

• Basic learning skills with fun being the key

• Going to playgroup

• Listening to music and playing music

• Singing songs

• Dancing together

• Reading stories

• Outside Play in our well equipped play area