Hi Maggie. My DS was at a fantastic independent centre in the CBD near work. When I fell pg again, I put Jack's name (and the baby's) down at a local independent centre as it made more sense for Jack to be near home when I wasn't working - I wanted him to keep going one day a week as he loves day care and I think the social interaction is good for him. Not long before the baby was due, ABC bought the CBD centre Jack was attending. I was quite upset by this because the centre was great and I didn't anything to change. At that stage I was leaning towards not moving Jack. Then the director left, and a few of the staff indicated that they would be moving on in a few months. That made my decision for me. A centre is as good as it's staff. If the great staff were leaving, I felt that moving Jack to the local centre was the right thing. It took a little while for him to settle in at a new place but he loves it there now and I'm glad we made the move.

I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with ABC in general. I think it depends on the individual centre -some will be good, others not so good. It really comes down to the director and staff at the time. I didn't like the way the ABC centres did some things, like re-paint the rooms during weekdays so the kids had less area to play in. Also, the seemed to have less floating staff on so there was more pressure on the staff. And they only pay award wages, often the best centres pay above award to attract the best staff. But as I say, there could still be good ABC centres.

I would go and look at the ABC centre near you and talk to the staff. If you are comfortable with the staff and the programming etc, then go for it. I wouldn't make a decision solely based on the branding. In my experience we have been lucky to find two excellent independent centres, but if you were happy with yours you wouldn't be considering moving, so what have you got to lose?

Good luck with it, it is a very hard decision, but I'm sure you'll make the right one. PM me if you want more info.