Before and after-school care programs have a lot to offer, but what if there's simply no room for your child? With a rise in dual-income families and a booming school-age population, many families are scrambling to find out-of-school hours care for their kids.
To see how you can get around this shortage of before and after-school places, let's look at some scenarios that demonstrate alternative care options for school-aged children.
Scenario 1
Twelve months ago, Emily put her twins on an after-school care waiting list. Her children have started school, but still don't have after-school care places, so Emily is relying on her mother to provide grandparent care or another family member to provide kinship care in their own home between 3pm and 6pm every weekday.
Scenario 2
Jenny and Ron start work early, so they have employed a nanny to take their three children to school each morning. To reduce the costs of having different nannies, they share their nanny with another family who requires a nanny to look after their children in the afternoons.
Scenario 3
Due to the family separation and lack of financial support, Christine is a single mum who works full-time. Her two children living with her attend before and after school care in a childcare centre three days a week, but she could not get a place for the other two days.
For this reason, Christine uses a regular babysitter. The babysitter is a reliable teenager whose high school is close to the primary school Christine's children attend. The babysitter provides support services and picks up the siblings two days a week and looks after them until Christine finishes work.
Scenario 4
With her youngest child now at school, Jessie is returning to work part-time. She shares school drop-offs and pick-ups with four parents on her street. To protect the children's safety in their community, the neighbours take turns looking after all the children one day a week, and Jessie provides care on Tuesday mornings and afternoons.
Scenario 5
Sienna and her partner James run a business together and are often busy with breakfast meetings and late telecons. They have one toddler and one school-aged child, so they share their home with an au pair.
Since au pairs usually live in families' own homes or at the home provided by the family, the au pair prepares the children for daycare and school, does drop-offs and pick-ups, prepares the children's meals, helps with homework and gets them ready for bed as needed. She also provides an enriching cultural experience for the kids.
Scenario 6
Amy works casually, and her partner Jim has a fly-in, fly-out job. When he is away, Amy can usually set her hours to fit in with the children's school day, but occasionally she has to work when they are home from school and her partner is away. Amy uses the CareforKids.com.au babysitter search to find a casual babysitter placement as needed.
Scenario 7
Trevor's son attended family day care tfrom the ages of two to five and formed a firm bond with his educator. This family day care provided the early learning education and support he needed, whilst meeting quality standards and ensuring child protection for all the young people under their care. Now that the five-year-old is at school, the Family Day Care educator provides him with before and after school care, plus holiday care when Trevor is working nine to five.
Although these scenarios may not fit precisely with your family's circumstances, they do show that where one waiting list appears endless, another alternative child care is available.
As a parent, it's your responsibility to ensure that proper care is provided to your child to avoid the risk of being separated from your child, and your child being placed in foster care, residential care or institutional care.
It's important to make sure that you focus on how your preferred alternative care will impact your child's health and well-being. Choose an option that serves your child's best interests.
It might be difficult to make ends meet when you also have to pay for child care. Some solutions, just like non-traditional daycare and flexible work schedules, may help you meet your responsibilities. There are also several programmes available to aid families with the cost of child care, either completely or partially. Researching what's out there will be time-consuming, but worth taking into account.
There are before and after school care options for many different family dynamics and budgets, so think about the solution that suits your family environment. Good luck!
In need of guidance or resources to choose the best alternative care that meets your child's individual needs and prioritizes your child's best interest? Using our child care compass can also help you find alternative solutions to OSHC.
Using our child care compass can also help you find alternative solutions to OSHC
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