More flexible child care in NSW

Families in New South Wales unable to access traditional child care services will benefit from almost $318,000 in Federal funding to support a new way of providing in-home child care places the Minister for Community Services, Larry Anthony said today.

“The NSW Family Day Care Association has received funding to establish four regional bases in NSW to act as a broker of in-home child places that will provide more flexible, quality child care for Australian families.

“In-home child care is a new, flexible form of care which is designed to meet the individual circumstances of families whose needs cannot be met by existing child care services.

“This type of care is particularly useful for families living in rural and regional areas, parents working shiftwork or unusual hours and families with a sick child.”

“New and existing service providers, especially in rural and remote locations, will be able to set up in-home child care services and use the support of the Association, who already have local expertise in providing quality child care.

“By acting as a broker, the Association will also be able to allocate funded in-home child care places to operators in areas that have the greatest demand for in-home care.”

“More than 7,700 in-home care places will be established across Australia by 2004, at a cost of almost $50 million.

“In-home care is a vital element of the Federal Government’s $240 million Stronger Families and Communities Strategy and one that will make a real difference to the lives of many families,” Mr Anthony said.

Families using Commonwealth approved in-home care services can claim Child Care Benefit to assist with the cost of care.

For more information about child care, families can call the Commonwealth Government’s national Child Care Hotline on 1800 670 305