Child Care News
Parents asked to share about childcare
The Australian - January 24, 2013PARENTS' experiences of finding childcare will help inform Australian Greens policy through a new survey the minor party launched on Thursday. Greens childcare spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said her party wanted to know what parents thought worked and didn't work when it...
Childcare bottleneck
The Mercury - Hannah Martin - January 24, 2013CHILDCARE shortages are forcing some Tasmanian parents to wait more than a year to secure placements. At least one Tasmanian day care centre has 400 children on its waiting list, Early Childhood Australia chief executive Ros Cornish says. Tasmania''s peak commerce group warned...
Childcare not stacking up
NEWS.com.au - Natasha Bita - January 19, 2013The Greens survey of 231 private and community daycare centres nationally in the past week shows that vacancies for babies have fallen 10 per cent over the past three years. Half the centres in Sydney and a third of those in Canberra now have waiting lists two to three years long...
Working parents are waiting up to two years for childcare places as centres scrap care for babies
The Sunday Mail - Natasha Bita - January 20, 2013CHILDCARE centres are scrapping places for babies as working parents wait up to two years for day care. Three in every four long day-care centres in Australia's capital cities do not have vacancies for babies, a new survey reveals. And two-thirds do not have places left for toddlers…
New Study Challenges Links Between Daycare and Behavioral Issues
Science Daily - January 17, 2013A new study that looked at more than 75,000 children in day care in Norway found little evidence that the amount of time a child spends in child care leads to an increase in behavioral problems, according to researchers from the United States and Norway. Several prior studies in the U.S...
Queensland 'should stop circulating incorrect information'
The Sunshine Coast Daily - Daniel Burdon - January 17, 2013A STOUSH has erupted between the Federal Government and the Queensland Government over a subsidy which helps child care centres care for young disabled children. State Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek yesterday attacked the Gillard Government, saying it had withdrawn funding...
Childcare union opposes proposal to waive uni fees
ABC News - January 17, 2013The union representing childcare workers has criticised a Greens proposal to give workers in the sector free university degrees. The Greens are proposing to waive a year's university debt for every year a graduate works full-time in a long day care centre. The party says the scheme...
Children 'may grow out of autism'
BBC News - Michelle Roberts - January 16, 2013Some young children accurately diagnosed as autistic lose their symptoms and their diagnosis as they get older, say US researchers. The findings of the National Institutes of Health study of 112 children appears to challenge the widely held belief that autism is a lifelong condition. While...
Taxpayers to fund childcare workers' costs to avoid staffing crisis
NEWS.com.au - Natasha Bita - January 17, 2013TAXPAYERS would refund childcare teachers' study costs, under a new plan to deal with a daycare staffing crisis. Treasury calculates the "forget-the-debt" scheme would cost about $10m over the next four years. The Greens will ask the federal government today to waive a year's university...
Funding 'loophole' prompts warning from childcare centres
The Australian - Rosanne Barrett -January 17, 2013SOME kindergartens may be forced to turn away children with a disability as funding cuts leave them without extra staff to assist, a provider has warned. The director of Sunshine Coast kindergarten and long-daycare provider Immanuel Early Learning Centre, Annette Enright, said...
Greens plan to boost childcare by wiping uni debts
The Age - Stephanie Peatling - January 17, 2013EARLY childhood teachers who work in childcare centres rather than schools would have their university fee debts wiped out under a Greens proposal being considered by the federal government. On January 1 next year all childcare centres must employ at least one teacher as...
Childcare centres split over new regulations mandating higher number of carers
NEWS.com.au - Emma Altschwager & Ken McGregor - January 16, 2013CHILDCARE centres are split over the impact of tough new regulations mandating a higher number and better qualified carers. Messenger Community News has spoken to several eastern and western suburbs' centres about the new national standards. Under the changes, the ratio of...
Child services lagging, say advocates
The West Australian - Cathy O'Leary - January 10, 2013Child development services are failing to keep up with WA's baby boom and the 8000 children a year who need extra help, advocacy groups say. Children and Young People Commissioner Michelle Scott and the WA Council of Social Service say a surge in births means WA needs to expand...
World first study to prevent child obesity
Newcastle Herald - Alison Branley - January 8, 2013CHILDCARE centres will be the target of obesity prevention measures under world first study at the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Public health program manager Luke Wolfenden will study the impact of diet and exercise strategies at 200 pre-schools and long day care centres around NSW...
SA Lib blocks changes to childcare staffing
The Australian - Sarah Martin - January 8, 2013THE Gillard government's plan to increase the number of staff in childcare centres faces obstacles in South Australia, as a state Liberal MP flags legislation to delay the federal reforms at the request of industry. The promise by MP Martin Hamilton-Smith came as childcare operators accused…
