The future of Family Day Care services in the Shoalhaven is uncertain following withdrawal of federal funding.
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About $157,000 of federal funding will be stripped from the Shoalhaven service, which cares for Ulladulla children.
Shoalhaven Family Day Care is a council sponsored home-based early childhood education and care service that provides childcare in the homes of qualified educators. Council also contributes funds to support the service.
Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis said there was other funding opportunities for Shoalhaven Council to apply for.
She said she would aim to secure funding to ensure the service continued in the region.
“The government currently provides support to eligible Family Day Care services through the Community Support Programme (CSP),” she said.
“Funding is paid directly to the child care service to assist in maintaining the service in areas where they might otherwise be unviable or unable to meet the requirements of the community, such as in disadvantaged or regional and remote communities.”
Mrs Sudmalis encouraged those who currently receive funding to review their business model with a view to improving sustainability and viability into the future.
She said the government was committed to giving parents more “choice and opportunity to work” and providing children with “high-quality early education”.
Approximately 300 students attend the service, which involves 38 educators, in the Shoalhaven.
Educators are small business operators and parents are charged a childcare fee to use the service. Educators and families also pay a levy which assists in supporting the coordination unit. The service has actively supported local families for over 35 years.
Mrs Sudmalis said she expected Shoahaven Family Day Care services would be eligible to apply for Community Child Care funding in late 2017, with funding available from July 2018.
She said the “government acknowledges the need for reform in the early childhood and child care sector”.