Welcome to CareforKids.com.au® - Australia's most comprehensive directory to find compare and contact a huge range of child care services.

Finding child care can be a daunting and time-consuming process. With thousands of options, how do you select the best child care near you?

CareforKids.com.au brings together all the pieces of the puzzle to make it faster and simpler for families to match children with the right care.

Search for child care services by using the links to the left.

Child Care Centres - Child care centres or Long day care usually care for children under school age, in premises specially built or adapted for child care. Private operators, local councils, community organisations, employers and non-profit organisations may run long day care centres.

They provide all-day or part-time care and offer developmental programs within their care programs. Meals are usually provided with some long day care centres providing care for limited numbers of primary school children before and after school, and during school holidays.

Use this search option to find child care centres and view current vacancies.

Family Day Care - Family day care is a network of experienced carers who provide care and developmental activities in their own homes for other people's children.

Family day care is primarily for children who have not yet started school. It can also provide care for school children up to 12 years old. Care is flexible and can be tailored to suit each family's needs including care outside normal working hours and, if needed, overnight care.

Use this search option to find family day care providers and view current vacancies.

Pre-school / Kindergarten / Prep - Pre-school is a planned educational program for children in the years before a child commences school. Children are usually aged between 3 and 5 years of age. Pre-school may take place in a range of settings including a purpose built building, in a community setting, a school, as part of a long day care centre or a mobile or visiting service.

Pre-school generally runs between the hours of 9:00am and 3:00pm similar to school hours although this may vary by state and by service so check with the provider.

The terms kindergarten or prep are also used in some states.

Use this search option to find pre-schools and view current vacancies.

Before / After School Care - Before/After School Care or Out of School Hours care (OOSH) is supervised care and recreation for school-age children.

OOSH care is usually associated with schools and is operated by community and private organisations. The government's program is known as Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) or Vacation Care (VC).

Typical hours for OOSH services are: Before school 7.00 - 9.00 am - After school 3.00 - 6.00 pm - Vacation 8.00 - 6.00 pm each week day.

Use this search option to find outside of school hours services in your area.

Nanny - employed by the family on either a live-in or live-out basis to undertake all tasks related to the care of children. Duties are generally restricted to child care and the domestic tasks related to child care. May or may not have had any formal training though often has a good deal of actual experience. A nanny's working week ranges from forty to sixty hours per week.

Use this search option to find agency screened nannies.

Babysitter - provides supervisory/custodial care of children on an irregular, full-time, part-time or on an as-needs basis.

Rest assured that all carers listed are registered with reputable child care agencies and have been subject to the agency's policy for reference and background checks and retained as a result.

Individual carers are not permitted to register on CareforKids.com.au

Use this search option to find agency screened babysitters.

Au Pair - foreign national in Australia for up to a year for cultural exchange purposes and to experience Australian life. Lives as part of the host family and receives a small allowance / salary in exchange for child care and household duties. May or may not have previous child care experience.

Use this search option to find agency screened au pairs.

Agencies - Child care agencies are businesses which operate to help people find nannies, au pairs and babysitters to look after their children.

Agencies charge fees and offer a range of services which can make it easier for families to find a carer which suits their particular requirements. These services include advertising for and screening candidates along with reference checking.

Use this search option to find nanny, babysitting and au pair agencies that service your area.

Need to find a child care vacancy near you?

Use Vacancy Super Search® to locate all the child care services in your area quickly and easily.

Simply type in your postcode or suburb to find all services in your area.

You can then narrow these results to view child care services with vacancies that match your child's age, days of the week you need and type of care required… it's that easy!

Vacation Care services provide care to primary school aged children during the school holiday periods.

Children enjoy centre-based activities including arts, crafts, sports games and excursions.

Vacation Care services usually operate between 7:00am till 6:00pm each week day during school holiday periods.

Use this search option to find vacation care services in your area.