My name is Jacqui, I have been an educator on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales for the past 10 years. The Education and Care Services National Regulation came into force on January 1 2012 and states that family day care educators must operate with no more than four children under school age by 1 January 2014. NSW family day care currently operates with adult to child ratios of 1:5 children under school age.

I feel very strongly about the decrease in ratios within family day care.

How are we expected to tell our families that they can't come back next year- that they will have to find alternative care for their child?

This change will mean that 20 per cent fewer children will be able to receive care in the unique family day care environment. Most family day care schemes already have waiting lists. Changing the number of under school age children each educator can care for from five to four, gives us a simple mathematical conclusion: 20 per cent fewer children will be able to access a family day care scheme.

Recent Press
Mission Australia chief executive Toby Hall warned the impact of the reforms, backed by the federal and state governments in 2009, would force women relying on childcare out of the workplace.

The new ratios mean about 200 out of 1000 children in Mission Australia family day care places… around Penrith and Liverpool will have to leave by January.

"The people who are going to suffer the most are working women in western Sydney," Mr Hall said.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

The financial impact and the impact for families are the issues for us. Our co-ordination units will lose funding, we as educators will lose income, and we will need to come up with strategies to cope with that, but of most concern is the number of children each day that will not have the benefit of family day care next year.

Families should have the right to choose what type of child care they access but the government has taken away that right. More than 4000 children per day will be without family day care in NSW as a result of the ratio change.

The government says it's about improving quality.

The Facts

• There is no research regarding the optimum number of children that should be cared for in a home based, mixed age group setting
• More than 4000 children per day will be asked to leave their safe, secure environments to seek care elsewhere
• In family day care there is one consistent educator chosen by the parents

Our Aim

• Maintain the 5:1 ratio or extend the commencement date until supporting research is conducted
• Keep children in their safe, secure environments

Why not increase the ratios for family day care in all states to 1:5? Educators have always had the choice to lessen their individual ratios.

Families have already experienced some of the repercussions of ratio changes. Centre-based services were faced with a reduction to 1:4 for children under two. In many cases this resulted in services reducing the number of places available for children under two due to the rising cost of staffing. The change had a flow on effect putting pressure on family day care services with an increase in the number of requests for care for children under two.

The reduction of ratios in family day care in NSW will increase pressure on the early childhood sector in NSW even further. Where will the children go? The majority of services already have extensive waiting lists and will not be in a position to accommodate the children who are without care as a result of a 20 per cent reduction in the number of places available in family day care NSW.

The logical solution for educators is to increase their fees by 25 per cent to compensate for the loss of income however families may not be able to absorb the increased cost of care.

Combine the loss of child care places for families, with the increasing cost of child care and increased pressure on an industry that cannot cope with current demand and there is a recipe for disaster in NSW.

A system that is designed to improve quality may in fact defeat itself. There is already increasing demand for child care and as a result there may be incentives for new services to cash in on the issue.

Most educators in NSW receive considerable support from their co-ordination units. The viability of our support services is also of great concern. Co-ordination units receive funding and collect levies from families and educators to generate income. The funding and levies are all based on use, so if the number of children using family day care reduces by 20 per cent then the income of the co-ordination units will also drop by 20 per cent.

What will this mean to the services that are available to support educators and families? Co-ordination units will also consider raising levies paid by families and therefore put additional pressure on the pricing structure for families.

Is anyone seeing any quality improvements in this scenario?

There has been a lot of comment from people in states/territories where the ratios are already 1:4. The equation is simple for them: "We already do it so why can't you? You have had two years to plan for this."

These comments are a little disturbing. The states that have always operated on 1:4 ratios have not had to experience a drop in ratios and many other people suggested two years ago that educators just start putting up fees in advance so that the shock in 2014 would not be so high.

How fair is that?

Why should families pay in advance for a system that does not come into effect until January 2014? NSW family day care ran a campaign in 2011 to raise awareness of the impacts of the proposed change; however, educators and families were not affected at the time so the campaign lost impact.

There has been no response from any government department as to where the children will go in January 2014. The expectation is that we will have to come up with our own strategies, but that does not help families. Let's hope that this situation does not provide the opportunity for unethical child care services to take advantage of the situation.

Yes, we will be looking for strategies to assist with financial viability but we cannot find the additional places for children.

Where is the quality in all of this?

Is there a possibility that the implementation date be extended to allow for the appropriate research to be done?

We did not create this mess, but it seems that we are expected to come up with the answers.

Are you a family day carer who will be affected by the changes? How are you coping? Join the conversation below or show your support by signing the petition here