What is In Home Careand why don't we use it more?
In Home Care is a flexible form of child care where an approved carer provides care in the child's home. It is targeted to families unable to access existing child care services, such as families working shift or non-standard hours or those located in regional or remote regions of Australia; parents with 3 or more children under school age; or those with children with an illness or disability and also main carers (usually mothers) who have an illness.
There is a fair amount of confusion or at best lack of knowledge about what in -home care actually is and what differentiates it from just employing a nanny or au pair.
Families who do qualify In Home Care can then claim certain child care or other benefits, including the Child Care Rebate (CCR) and CCB, but In Home Care can only be obtained through a Government approved agency.
Louise Dunham, Managing Director of approved In Home agency, Placement Solutions in Melbourne says: "We have to meet strict guidelines of accountability including being compliant with Child Care Management System (CCMS), interim In Home Care standards and our funding agreements with DEEWR".
The screening process and on-going support for In Home Carers and client "Interim In Home Care standards are very thorough and specific about screening carers, providing on-going support for carers and clients, which includes professional development and training for carers and also scheduled in home visits", says Dunham.
Despite the strict guidelines for In Home Care, it is certainly an area that could give parents more child care options than the often over-subscribed long day care centres, and provide a more regulated alternative to nannies and au pairs (and with the potential for CCB and CCR). But this would only be possible by broadening the requirements for eligibility, so that more families can access the In Home Care rebates, for example by dropping the requirement that In Home Care families must be unable to access other forms of government approved care.
Louise Dunham agrees that widening the eligibility for In Home Care could take the strain off many parents who are finding it hard to find child care.
"In Home Care eligibility could definitely be broadened to those families who choose nannies (a.k.a in-home child carers) over other forms of childcare - people who currently choose nannies say for the middle of the day or after school pick up or who have been offered but have rejected other childcare places such as long day care".
In Home Care services must comply with applicable State and Territory regulations and licensing requirements when providing care to children.
Eligibility for In Home Care
To be eligible for In Home Care, a child must have no access to existing child care services and/or their circumstances mean that an existing child care service cannot meet their needs, and the child meets one or more of the following criteria (as set out in subsection 10 (1C) of the Eligibility Determination):
- The child, or any other child with whom the child lives, has an illness or disability
- The individual in whose care the child is, or the individual's partner (if any), has an illness or disability that reduces the individual's, or the partner's capacity to care for the child
- The child lives in a rural or remote area
- Work hours of the individual in whose care the child is, or the individual's partner (if any), are (or include) the hours during which no other approved child care service (other than an approved In Home Care service) operates that could otherwise provide care
- The individual in whose care the child is or the individual's partner (if any) is caring for three or more children (including the child) who have not yet commenced school, or
- Any other circumstances determined by the secretary in relation to the child.
For more information on In Home Care visit your nearest Centrelink/Family Assistance office or click here for the Family Assistance website or National In Home Childcare Association
.
© 2012 - All rights reserved
Care For Kids Internet Services Pty Ltd
ABN 55 104 145 735
PO Box 543 Balmain NSW 2041
privacy policy contact us