If you are an Australian living overseas and considering a return home, or a foreign national researching a move to Australia, you’ll undoubtedly have plenty of questions and concerns about how to secure high-quality childcare when and where you need it.
In Australia, we are fortunate enough to have a high quality childcare system with well-qualified and experienced carers and centres with beautiful premises. Like many countries, the cost of childcare in Australia is high and it can be hard to secure a spot, especially for children under two years old.
This tool kit has been put together to assist you to make a successful transition to the Australian childcare system and offers a range of valuable resources and articles which should help you with your planning.
Types of Australian childcare options
In Australia we may have a different names for the type of care you need. We have options for formal and informal care for early education, early childhood learning environment and family day care services for children aged up to five years, child care centres for primary school-age children, outside school hours care for school-aged children, and other care programs. It's advisable to get a very clear understanding of the types of childcare service available here and what they are called from state to state.
This summary of Australia's main childcare options is a great place to start your research. You'll also want a rough idea about the price of different types of care and this childcare calculator estimating the cost of child care offers an overview.
If you have a clear idea of what sort of childcare you would like and haven't been able to source it, read what to do when you can't find the childcare you'd hoped for as it provides some different scenarios that may be worth considering.
Locating providers
We recommend you use the CareforKids.com.au search to locate and contact approved services and early childhood education providers in the geographical areas you are considering moving to. The CareforKids.com.au cost widget is a useful tool for learning the price of child care by postcode.
Waitlisting
Many early childhood education and care providers accept online applications for waitlisting. We recommend you take full advantage of this service and add your child’s name to a waitlist as soon as you start thinking about a move to Australia. Click here for more information on the great waiting game.
Benefits & Subsidies
Australia has a range of Government subsidies to make it easier to cover the cost of using early childhood education and care, although there is a range of residency and citizenship requirements in place for people wanting to access these childcare subsidy benefits from the Australian government. These articles on child care subsidies offer a summary of all the other types of available financial assistance for childcare fees along with the eligibility requirements.
