FAMILY DAY CARE MATTERS Changes to legislation affecting family day care The Federal Government last week announced changes to the Child Care Benefit (Eligibility of Child Care Services for Approval and Continued Approval) Determination 2000, which are targeted specifically at the family day care sector. Click here to read more about the changes and how they affect you. The legislative changes were tabled in parliament on 4 December 2014 and were made without any prior consultation with FDCA. The changes have been made to assist the Department of Education in monitoring family day care compliance with family assistance law. While we support the intention of increased compliance, we believe the Government has failed to assess the direct impact on quality family day care educators and we are concerned that the restriction on educators to access family day care for their own children inhibits the right of a parent to work. There was an overwhelming social media response from the sector within hours of FDCA’s e-bulletin informing members of the legislative changes. A Facebook page and online petition was formed by educators with thousands of ‘likes’ and there were hundreds of comments opposing the amendments on various pages. “Unite for the Rights of Parents and Children in Family Day Care” campaign In an effort to join together in a show of strength and unity, FDCA launched its own “Unite for the Rights of Parents and Children in Family Day Care” campaign via Facebook on Friday with a special video message delivered by Chief Executive Officer Carla Northam. The campaign went viral over the weekend on social media reaching an audience of more than 30,000 and generating more than 2000 ‘likes’. FDCA also consulted with its members about the changes via an online survey. Initial results from the survey have indicated that the amendment banning educators from placing their own children in family day care would have a significant impact on the sector, with 96 per cent of respondents opposing the regulation. FDCA is now working on finalising our strategic response to the legislative changes. On Friday we will launch the Unite for Rights in FDC website. The site will serve as a central hub to consolidate our collective voice. Here we will detail our strategic response and will provide additional information and resources to support the sector in engaging in the campaign. Stay tuned for further details and updates as the campaign progresses and we continue to represent and fight for the rights of our members. Media surrounding changes to legislation for family day care On the eve of last week’s announcement of changes to legislation affecting family day care, News Corp reported that the Government’s amendments were part of a clamp down to “stamp out dodgy operators” and “child swapping of phantom children”. FDCA was not given the opportunity to comment before this story went to print. Assistant Minister for Education the Hon Sussan Ley MP issued a media release on Thursday announcing that the Government was “taking decisive action to tighten child care payment laws to stop dodgy family day care services exploiting ‘legislative loopholes’ that are costing taxpayers millions”. FDCA issued its own media release in response to the legislative changes the same day. The release highlighted the lack of consultation with the sector, and opposed the amendment restricting educators from placing their own children in family day care – which FDCA claimed was a direct attack on parent’s rights. Several news outlets picked up our argument, with The Australian, news.au, Herald Sun, Courier Mail and many more quoting Chief Executive Officer Carla Northam’s following comment: “We are actively supportive of the push towards increased compliance; however parents’ rights to access early childhood education and care for their children are paramount.” Shadow Minister for Early Childhood the Hon Kate Ellis MP issued a media release on Friday which also raised concerns about the ban on educators to access family day care for their own children with reports quoting her as saying: “it seems a blunt and harsh decision, which could increase waiting lists or even drive educators from the sector.” She went on to discuss the $157 million worth of Community Support Programme (CSP) cuts to family day care on ABC News 24. Early Childhood Australia (ECA) came out in support of the changes to legislation for family day care. Click here to view their media release. Media and the early childhood education and care sector: a week in review The media pounced on Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s announcement that he was changing his paid parental leave scheme after mounting public pressure. “We will restructure the policy we took to the election,” he said. “It will be a better targeted scheme. The savings we make on parental leave will be invested in child care.” It was reported that the revamped scheme would be part of a “families’’ package to be released next year that will also examine means testing child care subsidies for high-income households and extending government assistance to cover nannies. Mr Abbott was quoted as saying the Government was “very keen” on looking at in-home child care and that the changes were likely to make nannies much cheaper. There was further news on the coronial inquest into the death of a baby in family day care in 2012 – Queensland Department of Education confirmed no issue of non-compliance either at the educator’s home or the service. The baby’s mother expressed disappointment in the lack of support and counselling following the tragedy. The death had been determined to be Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) but the deputy state coroner said he would hand down his findings on December 12. 12 Days of Giveaways – don’t miss out! There are only three days to go of the 12 Days of Giveaways promotion which was launched via our Facebook page last week. Each day until 12 December FDCA is giving away three prize packs which include Laurie Lawrence’s Kids Alive Do The Five resources, books from Scholastic and a Sisters of Invention CD. Everyone who simply likes and comments on the daily Facebook posts has the chance to share in some of the wonderful prizes. Click here to visit our Facebook page for a chance to win. The giveaway will close on Friday. Enquiries surrounding changes to legislation The Department of Education has released a fact sheet about the changes to legislation on their family day care page. Click here to read Changes to Legislation – New Requirements for Approved Family Day Care Services. If you have any queries about the new legislative requirements please email the Department of Education at: [email protected]
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 12:08:55 +0000
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