Centre based or FDC?
Centre based i'm pretty sure you have to pay a full days fees regardless of how many hours they are there for? (someone might correct me here??)
Yeah. I know the centres I looked at I had to pay a full days fees regardless of how many hours Miss J was in there for where as FDC I still pay for the hours she is there for but I pay by the hour rather than a day rate. Eg, a full 8 hour day before CCB/CCTR is about $60, Miss J is there for 7 so I only pay for 7 hours. If I only send her for the morning I still pay for 7 hours. Hope that makes sense?
what do you think about centres versus FDC - Ive thought about it but im scared because i dont know who the FDC person has visiting there home etc, ide appreciate some opinions to help me decide whether to do daycare every day or stay 3 days a week.
there r sign in books u can ask to look at to see who has been there or if that carer has regualr visitors. any person that comes in to a fdc house has to sign in the book the reasona nd times they r there even if its a tradie or wat ever that isnt even in teh fdc area. also fdc have the head office people come visit once a fortnight to make sure everything is all good.
Im not sure about SA, but i know half day fees are hard to come by in Melbourne, as most centres that do this found that they were running at a loss. You could try FDC or occasional care, (allowing you to book up to two weeks in advance at some services)
I really like FDC. My mum was a carer for more than 10 years. Miss J love it. One carer as a pose to a few different people, less kids means more one on one time, as someone mentioned that have a child development worker go out and do stuff with the kids and make sure the carer is doing the right thing, also check the sign in book to see who's visited - gives you an idea of the people coming and going, they still have all the normal checks that centres would have, like centres you can go and observe what the carer is doing when ever you like, we provide our own food so I can send stuff that Miss J will actually eat, less illness because there are less kids. I could go on...
Miss J loves going and gets all excited when I tell her we are going there so I highly recommend it. Obviously meet with a few people first if its the path you want to go down and keep looking until you find someone you are comfortable with.
I've worked in a few places that do half days - they tend to be places that are desperate to have bums on seats, so to speak, so will take anyone they can get. Some have "changeover" at 12, 12:30, or even 1:00. Ask them, and see if they can arrange anything for you.
I LOVE family day care. Much prefer it to centre based care. You do need to find a carer you trust though. In my area the family day carers have a minimum number of hours you have to book for your day of care. My carer has a minimum of 8 hours- so if you use less you still have to pay for 8. Another carer I visited had a minimum 4 hour booking per day. You choose the hours.
I was originally going to put DD in FDC but changed my mind due to a few things.
The main one was that at FDC if the FDC person is sick or decides to take holidays (which they can at anytime through the year) then there is no quarentee that you can get someone else to look after your child for the day. They attempt to get you into contact with other FDCarers but its not guarenteed where as at a centre there are always childcrae workers and if someone is sick they have back up there.
The other thing was I wanted DD interacting with children her own age and having activities that were developmentally appropriate for her age. I found that the FDC didnt offer this and when DD needed to be patted to sleep, she couldnt do this because she had to worry about the other kids. There was no back up or extra set of hands to help out IYKWIM
Also in regards to level of care, the ratio at my DD's centre is outstanding. In her current room it is 4 kids to 1 carer max. Sometimes it seems like there are more carers than children!
I also liked that they provided everything in the price of the day (nappies, milk, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks) and there was a chef on site. It is so well balanced and it is one less thing fo rme to worry about on my work days.
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Daycare - Half day & Full Day Question
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