Should Working mothers be given preference at childcare ?? rant and healthy debate :)

[~clover~]

All centres I've been to put working mothers etc first.

There is hardly any DC here at all, but I see alot of parents advertising on facebook buy & sell pages for a babysitter/carer for their kids, weather its full time, or just til a place is available. Maybe you could try that?

It can be in your home or theirs. What ever you guys feel comfortable with. There may be other mothers close by who would do it for a little extra cash, & they'd possibly be able to get your DD to & from school as well.

Mum always worked, but never used daycare etc for us.

[PinkPalace]

It can be in your home or theirs. What ever you guys feel comfortable with. There may be other mothers close by who would do it for a little extra cash, & they'd possibly be able to get your DD to & from school as well.

I guess i have been living in this big city for all of about 5 weeks now, dont know anyone, and not comfortable bringing a stranger into my home to care for my kids.
I can hire a babysitter/nanny - cheapest is around $160 a day which is crazy!
TBH with all the drive by shootings and crime in the surrounding suburbs, i would prefer to hide behind my locked doors, but my job is part of my identity and i love it

[~clover~]

Completely understandable, but I'm pretty sure you'd be able to ask for a police clearance & working with children check. Most of the people asking here are also new in town, but they are very small towns, so I guess having word of mouth, or recommandations makes it a bit easier. Harder to get in a city when people are more anon.

$160 is nuts... is that for live in?

Are there any BB girls close by who'd help you out?

[chody47]

I think that working Mums (or Dad's) should be given preference. At our current childcare that seems to be the case (as far as I can tell). When I was starting there I needed 3 days a week and the director said that they would call some of the non-working parents to see if they could swap out of the 'full' days into one of the other days so that we could get a spot. They implied that this was their policy and that the non-working parents should know that this could happen. Someone must have swapped as we got our days.

[PinkPalace]

i wonder why this isnt happening then?
What would i say i when i ring and ask,?

[nothing2lose]

I'm guessing you are in Sydney???

Maybe the bet short term option is to look at council run FDC. You may need to travel a little bit (one of the joys of city life) but it will be worth it if you can work.

[PinkPalace]

There is a FDC around. but if i finish work at 11pm, and DH finishes at 530pm and needs to travel home and pick up 2 children it need to be either near our house or near DD's school.
And yes sydney
He simply wont have time to get home, get the car, drive to chils care 20 mins in one directions then drive 30 mins int he other direction to oosh all within 1/2 hr.

I found the policy you are all talking about too, thanks for that - but tbh i would feel like a b$#%h if i said, i am a working mum make someone leave then would be worried about my child
http://www.deewr.gov.au/Earlychildho...eservices.aspx

[briggsy's girl]

http://www.mychild.gov.au/

check out this site - if you look at your area, it will give you all the cc's in the area - you can then opt to look for only those that have places available. there may be some on there you haven't checked out yet.

unfortunately, in a place like Sydney, there is a very real possibility that the bulk of the care places are being used for parents that are working or those with "at risk" children so even if you did try and refer them to that policy, they may be meeting it. there is also a probability that they prioritise full time needs over part time....

[Indadhanu]

There are "Priority of Access Guidelines". I have just had this battle as both my partner and I now work and need Jazz in for the three days where over working days overlap, and had a hell of a time! Director told me I could go on a waiting list, which I did but I kept thinking... if non-working/non-studying mums are using those spaces, couldn't they just change days? It's not like I can change days, as it was my boss told me I could have Jazz there temporarily, but I know mysef that I can't really do my job if Jazz is there. I looked this up (Priority for allocating places in child care services), and brought it up with the Director. Low and behold, I got the extra two days I needed. I'm not against non-working parents. We've always had a non-working parent here, and my partner also studied but she did it at home so we quite happily changed days last year for a working family who needed the day we had, no drama, I mean, my partner was studying from home, very flexible, so the day we had was inconsequental.

Edit... should read the rest of the post first, sorry. I empathise with you, I was stressing thinking I'd have to leave by 6am to drive Jazz half an hour away in the wrong direction and then half an hour back, and factor in traffic and drop off, just to go to work by 7.30am... YUCK! And then same again in the afternoon. BLEH!