Federal funding for 194 additional Family Day Care places in WA

Federal Minister for Community Services, Larry Anthony, today announced an additional $888,454 for family day care schemes in Western Australia.

“This funding will provide an extra 194 family day care places across 10 schemes in the state” Mr Anthony said.

“The areas to benefit from this initiative will be the north west, south west, south east metropolitan regions, and the south west region of WA.”

Mr Anthony said the Government was ensuring that the new child care places were created in areas of greatest need, which in turn helped to ensure a strong and viable child care sector.

“It is part of our ongoing commitment to providing affordable, quality child care services for all Australian families” Mr Anthony said.

“Historically, family day care has provided the most flexible form of child care for rural communities.

“Often, the population in small, dispersed country towns cannot support conventional long day care or outside school hours care services.

“In metropolitan high growth areas, there is a great demand for services with more flexible hours, especially for school aged children without access to outside school hours care”.

Mr Anthony said eligible WA families using the new places will be able to access the Child Care Benefit to assist meeting the costs of care.

“Improving access to child care is a priority for the Federal Government. These extra places will provide many families with access to child care assistance for the first time” Mr Anthony said.

Families who need more information about child care should call the Commonwealth Government’s national Child Care Hotline on 1800 670 305.