Council has been a sponsor of Shoalhaven Family Day Care since 1979, but claimed they could no longer afford to subsidise the service with the Federal Government pulling $150,000 in operational funding per year from July 2018.

Shocked educator Jaime Horton received a letter from Council on October 29 informing her of the changes.

“The decision was put to Councillors by Council staff without any consultation with the people who are employed to run the service,” she said.  

“They’re selling us without consultation.”

There are 38 educators and 300 children using Shoalhaven Family Day Care who will be affected by the changes. 

“Six employees will be made redundant as of June 2017 apparently, so merry Christmas to them,” Mrs Horton said.

“I am concerned if they outsource it to someone who isn’t local, how will they help find children in the Shoalhaven for me to look after, how will they come and see I’m doing the right thing and support my business?

“Surely Shoalhaven Family Day Care is a community asset that needs to be kept here and run by local people.” 

In 2015, Shoalhaven Family Day Care underwent assessment against the National Quality Standards and received an outstanding rating exceeding the national quality standard.

“We are the only Family Daycare scheme in NSW to reach that rating, which is the highest accreditation you can get,” Mrs Horton said.

“That comes from the coordination staff and us educators working as a team very very hard to create that. I can’t see how it can stay as good as it is without these women supporting us.”