Child Care News

Daycare costs soar but one in three centres fail quality tests
The Australian - Natasha Bita - April 20, 2016

Daycare costs have soared by one-third since governments made childcare centres hire more staff - but one in three centres has flunked the expensive quality standards. Parents are now paying 37 per cent more for childcare than in January 2012, when centres were forced to hire more and better...

One in four preschools fail to meet quality standards report
The Guardian - Shalailah Medhora - April 20, 2016

Nearly one in four preschools have failed to meet childcare quality standards, a new report finds, and warns that the gulf between educational outcomes for children from wealthy families and worse-off ones is growing. One-third of children do not attend the requisite hours of preschool...

West Heidelberg childcare centre investigates ways to protect community's most vulnerable
ABC News - Clare Rawlinson - April 19, 2016

EYEP manager Aisha Bal said mental illness, domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse were among the most common reasons for parents being referred to the centre. But unlike mainstream childcare centres, the EYEP only accepts families if they have at least two risk factors. Elle and Terry...

$3.6 billion in budget savings lapse on a technicality
Choice - Daniel Graham - April 18, 2016

This does not necessarily mean a change in policy direction. The government is still committed to the Child Care Subsidy, for example. However, there are indications it is working on changes to at least one piece of the legislation. In December the Social Services Minister Christian...

Can you sack your staff for alleged child sex offences?
HC Online - Victoria Bruce - April 18, 2016

If one of your employees is an alleged child sex offender and your employer is engaged in the education sector, then terminating that staff member immediately might seem like an appropriate course of action. "One would think the ability to terminate an employee accused of such behaviour in a...

Objections to vaccination jabs similar to 10 years ago
The Australian - Sean Parnell - April 18, 2016

Laws allowing welfare payments to be withheld from parents who do not vaccinate their children and childcare centres to ban children who are not immunised have been introduced despite the level of opposition to vaccination remaining steady in the community for more than a decade. In...

WorkLife: Finding a better balance for working parents on RN Showcase
ABC Radio - Scott Spark - April 17, 2016

Back in 1993, Norway became the first country in the world to reserve a quota of parental leave for fathers. Before the law was passed, roughly 4 per cent of fathers took leave from work to care for their children. Now, more than 90 per cent of fathers take at least 12 weeks leave. In this...

Baird government to tap private investors to boost preschool attendance in NSW
Sydney Morning Herald - Kirsty Needham - April 17, 2016

The Baird government will turn to private investors to boost funding for preschool education and open adoptions. NSW lags behind other states and fails to meet the national goal of all children attending 15 hours of preschool a week in the year before school. Only 74 per cent of four-year-olds...

Child vaccination on the rise in no vax capitals
The Sunday Telegraph - Jane Jansen - April 17, 2016

The changes to the law meant childcare facilities had to collect evidence of complete vaccination or approved exemption before allowing enrolment. Researchers from the Western Sydney University School of Medicine interviewed 10 directors of child care centres in northern NSW where...

Day care made to order for children with autism
Daily Telegraph - Geraldine Cardozo - April 15, 2016

A NEW family daycare service is offering a lifeline to children with autism and their parents. Autism Central Coast has opened two family daycare services for children on the autism spectrum at Watanobbi­ and Blue Haven. "Many of our families have nowhere else to go," Autism Central...

Knowledge Nation 2016: language app the talk of childcare
The Australian - Sarah Martin - April 14, 2016

More than 10,000 children across the country will be given access to an early-learning app that is teaching preschoolers to speak a foreign language, ­including Chinese, Arabic and Indonesian. Education Minister Simon Birmingham will announce at the Knowledge Nation summit in...

Plea for live-in childcare workers from Pacific nations
The West Australian - Kate Emery - April 14, 2016

One of Perth's top corporate women says Australia should use live-in childcare workers from Pacific nations to help women further their careers. Diane Smith-Gander, who heads advocacy group Chief Executive Women, said "guest workers" on short-term visas, which are common in Hong...

This is the paid parental leave scheme we need
Women's Agenda - Prue Gilbert - April 13, 2016

And yet, according to a new report by University of New South Wales, Australian working mothers with children under five experience stress 90% of the time. Tim Toohey, chief economist at Goldman Sachs asserts Australia is missing out on $195 billion or 13% of GDP by failing to close...

Married women: victims of unfair tax systems in the OECD
Sydney Morning Herald - Nassom Khadem - April 12, 2016

However, disincentives are not just because of tax rates. It is also because of women losing out on various benefits including family payments, the availability and cost of childcare and paid leave provisions. "The withdrawal of tax allowances and credits on the basis of family income and the...

Multi-million dollar ASIC cost on ABC Learning childcare probe uncovered via FOI documents
The Courier Mail - Liam Walsh - April 12, 2016

THE corporate police spent $11.2 million investigating the collapse of Brisbane-based childcare operator ABC Learning Centres, expenditure documents reveal. The eight-year investigation into former stockmarket darling ABC resulted in a court finding of massive accounting skulduggery...