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A childcare director in south-east South Australia has blamed the rising cost of living and the pandemic for a surge in the number of families desperately seeking childcare.
Key points:
- Parents needing to return to work due to the rising cost of living are desperate for care, the childcare director says
- But some are waiting up to 18 months for a place
- Naracoorte's two child care centres both have more than 30 children on their wait lists
Naracoorte Early Learning Centre can cater for 50 children from six weeks of age to pre-school age, but all its places are full.
Director Christine Gregor said she had 30 children on a waiting list as parents tried to go back to work.
"Previously, people might have been working and then laid off … [because] of COVID. Or … it wasn't worth their working," Ms Gregor said.
"But now, they're needing to go back to work, and obviously the cost of living is going up, so they're needing a second income in the household.
"I was listening to parents talking the other day about the things they bought at the supermarket — and they said they got very little, and it didn't take long to add up to $300 or $400.
"When you've got your other living expenses and childcare fees and school fees on top of it, it makes it hard."
But Ms Gregor said she did not have enough childcare places to meet demand or the workers to staff them.
The centre is currently advertising to recruit staff, working across a Monday to Friday roster, between the hours of 6:30am and 6pm.
But it needs at least another seven staff, both full-time and casual, to take pressure off current employees.
Ms Gregor said she could not even provide spots for the babies of two qualified childcare staff currently on maternity leave when they wanted to return to work.
"We've had two staff leave this year to have babies, which is obviously understandable," she said.
"But we have a massive, massive waiting list and there just doesn't seem to be the people wanting to do the training to get into childcare."
She said families from nearby Penola, Bordertown and Edenhope were sending their children to Naracoorte, due to the lack of childcare availability in their own towns.
Demand is highest for those with babies
It's a similar story at Naracoorte Child Day Care, which has up to 40 children on a wait list for care, with places for children under two years in highest demand.
Naracoorte Child Day Care director Sue Smith said there was some pre-school vacancies next term due to children starting kinder, but finding appropriately qualified childcare staff was a major issue.
The centre has been advertising since May to fill an assistant director role, without success.
"I don't know whether staff are staying in the sector as long, but … those with diploma and leadership experience are really quite hard to find," Ms Smith said.
Unborn babies on waitlists
Both Ms Gregor and Ms Smith said parents were placing their children on childcare waiting lists before they were born — and some families were waiting up to 18 months for a place.
Naracoorte mother Ailidh Motteram worked as a cleaner and a receptionist before giving birth to son Arlen, who is now 17 months.
She's been lucky to get a place for Arlen at Naracoorte Early Learning Centre.
"I have some friends that can't go back to work, because they can't get the care they need for their children," she said.
"I put Arlen down on the waiting list when he was three months old, and I couldn't get a childcare place until he turned one," she said.
"My partner runs a business and I help out, so that at least gives me a bit of flexibility.
"But I know people from chefs, to cleaners, to people doing admin work, who don't have that option … you can only fit so many kids in the one spot."
Childcare inquiry interim report
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released an interim report last week following a inquiry into the childcare sector.
The report found that childcare fees had outpaced inflation, and that disadvantaged households spent a greater share of their disposable income on childcare — about 5 to 21 per cent — despite receiving a greater government contribution and paying less out-of-pocket expenses.
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