Wouldn't it be great if Australia could have a centralised, all-encompassing system that provided parents who are looking for home-based, flexible child care with a one-stop shop to affordable in-home child care (i.e. nannies and "educators" or family day care) and subsidised pre-school education?
It would be amazing wouldn't it? And it could actually be achievable if we followed a similar system to the PORSE organisation in New Zealand. PORSE was NZ's first nanny-based child care service to be chartered by the Ministry of Education.
Not only does it operate as a centralised network of approved, trained and affordable carers, it also strives to ensure that this sector of child care is developed and sustained by providing accredited child care and education training and on-going support to people who want to work in this field or set up their own in-home care service.
The centralised nature of the business means that each nanny or educator has been checked and trained and has their own profile on a website, so you always know what and who you're getting.
With a largely unregulated and fragmented nature of in-home care in Australia, the very strict criteria and training before becoming a licensed caregiver, following the PORSE system, would provide families with a huge amount of reassurance that their children are not only being cared for in a family environment, but educated as well.
The efficient, trustworthy and transparent nature of this organisation gives families reassurance their kids are being well cared for, as well as providing them with flexible, affordable and quality child care in a home environment.
Originally starting out as a regional nanny network in 1994, PORSE is now a national network that works with thousands of people throughout New Zealand, offering in-home child care services, community play and learning programmes and on the job training.
PORSE has taken a fully responsible and practical approach to providing families and their children with what they need – flexible child care and quality pre-school education in a nurturing, home-based environment, run by qualified, committed staff. Not only that, but they also oversee subsidies to make the process as easy and comprehensive as possible.
The subsidies that the organisation receives from the government in turn go to investment into health, welfare and parenting programmes, while at the same time increasing participation in early learning and making in-home child care affordable and accessible to all NZ families.
With a focus on "Flexibility and Responsiveness" PORSE fits in with what parents want for their child, matching caregivers with the family's needs, background and family values.
With a policy of a maximum of four children in a home, PORSE gives each child high levels of personal attention, knowledge and interaction, and less exposure to illness.
The forward thinking organisation, which follows the NZ Early Education Curriculum, has developed its system around the need for double income families and women returning to the workforce, who want their children to have more personal care, family-style care and need flexibility and affordability. Its low ratio criteria means that only four children can be cared for under one roof.
PORSE has purposefully created a new model of child care that is community based putting its highest importance on young children developing meaningful relationships with a small number of significant adults known to the family.
And for those parents who work odd, long or inconsistent hours, PORSE has created services to share the parenting role for when a parent is not at home or requires additional support.
This sort of system would be the perfect way to incorporate existing family day care, nanny agencies and in-home care services (as "partners"), bringing everyone into a centralised system, with the same values, education and training requirements, health and safety criteria.
This would mean that as all care givers were trained, accredited and approved in the same way there would be no reason to exclude anyone from the child care benefit/rebate or education care and learning subsidy (ECLS).
It's the Utopia of home-based care for hundreds of thousands of Australian parents in need.
It could solve so many issues. What shall we call it?!
We'd love to hear your thoughts on adopting this sort of system in Australia. Comment below or head to Facebook or Twitter
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