Anyone using family daycare?

I'm wondering if any of you have your kids in FDC?
I'm thinking about putting my 15 month old DS in care 1 day a week while I'm at work. Currently he goes to my MIL's 4 part days but she is starting to drive me nuts :wall: (I won't get into that side of it yet though).

I guess I just need to find out a few things/
1. What should I look for in a carer and her house?
2. How much does it cost and can I get some money back from the government or centerlink or the like?
3.Does the carer provide food/drink or do I send that along?

I contacted our local FDC head office today and they are sending out a form for me to fill out so they can try and find a place for us.
If you have an other info you'd like to tell me about,please do as I'm new to this :)

Thanks

i can only answer on the c'link stuff hunny

MOST council run FDC services are approved carers through centrelink - and as such, you would get a rebate based on your income estimate. you would also qualify for half of your out of pocket costs rebated to you each quarter (there are lots of threads in the c'link forums if you want more info) - if the carer isn't part of an APPROVED organisation, check if they are a registered carer - if they are, you would get a very small rebate if you provide receipts within 12 months to c'link (it's about 50c an hour). check if the carer is REGISTERED or APPROVED - these are important factors

in regard to what to look for - it will depend on whether or not is it a private undertaking or council/organisation run. mum used to do FDC and it started out being very relaxed and informal (kids were part of the family - a few of them still refer to me as their "other sister") - but towards the end of her time, it was more formal. make sure you are comfy with the person, check whether it is a structured program and whether that is appropriate for your DS. work work out what facilities, what they provide, what they expect you to provide etc

hopefully some of the FDC users/workers will drop in with more specific info

BG

Hi! I used FDC for years before I moved down here to Sydney.

I can help answer these to the best of my ability...

1. What should I look for in a carer and her house?

To me its what I would expect in my house. Safety is a must, but also the toys and the organisation of the place. I went to a few places, and during my carers holiday my children went to other's houses. I found a few had their entire house open to the kids, and things were everywhere, toys mainly. If they had the TV on.... etc...

Some carers who could give me a run down of their days, what they did. A few toys were out but not all the toys, there was set TV time where they watched 1-2 things all day. There were set "activities" like drawing or painting, water play etc. Those were the carers I would choose to go with.

2. How much does it cost and can I get some money back from the government or centerlink or the like?

In QLD all the carers charged independantly, so it depended on the carer. Yes you can get a child care rebate and the child care benefit using FDC.

3.Does the carer provide food/drink or do I send that along?

Depends on the carer. Ours supplied lunch but not snacks and only drink allowed was water. Milk/bottles were find for babies though.

HTH!

Thanks BG for the info on the rebate thing. I'll go check out the other threads in relation to that.
The FDC is run through the council too so all the carers should be registered I would hope.

Thanks Christy. I have to say that the safety issue is a must and that is 1 part of the problem with MIL :(

My FDC lady is someone I have known for years. I taught her 2 oldest children and they have now finished school!
I like that Riley loves her and sometimes doesn't want to leave, he loves her kids and gets to play with them before and after school/uni/work so he gets to mix wiht teenagers too (he has 17 yr old sister so he is used to it)
We have to provide all nappies/wipes/food and drink.

Mako - i ditto christy's carer :) lol *wink wink* as DD took Christys' DD's place when she left.

She is wonderful But i put her in 2 days a week (as we had issues with 1 day a week at cc previously).. and she adjusted beautifully with 2 days. So we are keeping it at 2 days.

As for cost - after CC rebates (both of them) it works out to about $20 a day.
We supply nappies, morning/afternoon tea and milk.

God I miss Lizzie....

Hi Mako

I'm a carer with FDC and to answer your questions (best I can)

1. What should I look for in a carer and her house?
safety, make sure the area that she/he has set up for the kids is safe - clean, tidy (not necessary spotless), does she have adequate heating/cooling. Where do the kids sleep/play/eat.
What activities does she provide for the kids. How much TV do they watch? Does she take the kids on outings, where? how? why? these should be child orientated, in our scheme we are not allowed to take the children to shopping centres, our own childrens school activities (carnivals, concerts, etc) Ask to see childrens' portfolios although at this time in the year, she may not have any left, ask for references - many carers will have letters or cards or something from previous parents, watch the children in care, and how she relates to them if you visit during her work hours. Some carers provide a slide show (I do mine on a digital photo frame of all the photos from the year - actually I must start to set this years up).


2. How much does it cost and can I get some money back from the government or centerlink or the like? FDC is deregulated in that carers can set individual fees. Around this area, you are looking between $4.50 and $6.50 per hour depending on the carer (I charge $5 per hour and my scheme adds on another $0.50 per hour) and the scheme. Fees are dependant on your income and you may be eligible for subsidy and a rebate. If you know what your subsidy is, some carers will be able to work out what your weekly fee will be.


3.Does the carer provide food/drink or do I send that along?
Usually in FDC the parents provides everything, foods, drinks, nappies, wipes, etc. Some carers provide linen others ask parents to send it.


Hope that helps, if you need any further help, let me know

Hi, my almost-2-year-old daughter goes to family day care 3 days a week.
She gets really excited when I drop her off so I suppose she must really enjoy it!

When I was looking for carers, I actually just went with the first one I visited because she was just so perfect for what we wanted! We looked for the obvious things like safety, if the room was inviting, an outdoor play area and an indoor play area, I looked at the room the children sleep in during the day, where they eat, what sorts of toys they have etc. We also talked about what sorts of activities they do during the day, if they do any outings (ours does - every month during school terms the FDC bus picks up all the FDC kids and carers in the suburb and they go to the FDC office and have a play session for a couple hours). Our FDC is run by a scheme and is community based and they do fundraising to get more money for more toys/books/other equipment etc. I also asked about policies on sick kids, biting, absences etc.

Ours charges per hour. It is $6 per hour. It is a little extra (like 50c or something) for children under 2 years old. It is "approved care" so we get a bit back through centrelink/family assistance. We also pay an admin fee which goes to the scheme organiser. I cant remember how much it is, but its something really tiny. We also pay insurance annually, $4.40 or something tiny like that.

You'll need to ask if they provide food or not. Ours doesnt. We provide food/milk and nappies. She gave us suggestions on good types of food .Obviously something that is really easy considering she is also looking after other children and hasnt got any other staff members to help so she cant go away and prepare food. I just put food in a lunchbox for her.

hope this helps!

My nephew was in the same FDC 3-4 days per week from 6mths of age up until just before he started primary school ... my sister couldn't speak highly enough of his carer & the work she did as his carer :dance:

I think there were about 2 or 3 more other children in her care at the same time.

My nephew loved going that much that he would run to the FDC care home front door once out of my sister's car after arriving there :lol:

My sister said this carer took such pride in her work and each morning when the children arrived she would have activities all set up for the day for the children to do ... example art or crafty activities. etc ... :D

One day when my nephew was about 7 and in grade 1 at school i was walking with him & my sister in their local home town & my nephew was waving madly to some lady driving by ... i asked who it was & my sister said with the biggest smile "It's his 2nd Mum" ... she explained it was the carer my nephew had in FDC before his school days ;)

Thanks everyone for your quick replies.
I'm waiting on the paperwork to arrive and we'll go from there.

Mollycat You don't happen to know anyone in the Belmont/Lake Macquarie area do you?

My mum is a FDC and she gave me this long list of things I should check when looking into FDC for DD..(mum lives 5 hours away otherwise shes go there :) )
1. Area that they use - is it safe eg, safety gates where needed etc, cords etc...all the things you'd expect
2. Discipline - you want someone who is going to use appropriate discipline.
3. Routines - is the carer going to try and follow some of your routines or put DS/DD into a new routine so that it suits them??
4. Outings - does the carer have approved car seats etc. This is a requirement that car seats meet Aus safety standards but you'd be surprised. Also, you may not want a carer who is going to be out everyday with your baby - some carers are known for just going out and meeting for coffee everyday...
5. Check bottle prep and nappy change area - is it clean etc
6. Toys and activites - does she do things that are stimulating to the child and age appropriate. You are well within your rights to insepct what she does have for the kids in care.
7. Sleep area - does each child have thier own beds, do you have to supply bedding etc. if not are they washed regularly?
8. Check fee schedules and make sure you read your contract!!! Some carers will charge you astronomically amounts if you pick kids up late or reverse, charge you for dropping them early.
9. Nappy levies - this is usually charged as a once a day fee (eg. I pay an extra $2 a day as a nappy levi).
10. You are within your rights to go and watch and interact with the kids at anytime to make sure you are comfortable with the carer - if they say no then i'd be wary!
11. What do you have to supply and what do they provide???
12. Pets- do they have them, do they have access to play/sleep areas, are you comfortable with them??

hmmm..... I can't think of anything else at the moment but if I do I will post it for you.
I know it seems like allot of things, but leaving your kids with someone other than family is a big step so you want to check everything and not get caught out anywhere.