ABC Childcare Centres

inner south? aging area has more spots.

the inner north/gungahlin baby boom has booked up this side of town.

The boss and I pulled Young Master Berlina out of Family Day Care earlier this year, to put him in a child care centre. We found one within 5 mins drive of our house, within a day or so of looking, which had several available places. We took one such place, and have found the centre to be fantastic. I was really surprised at how easy it was to find a place – did we just get really lucky?

I booked at 12 places at 5 weeks pregnant.

Only one had a place after my child was 11 months old.

Those YWCA vacancies are for 4-5 year olds Mon-Wed only.

Family daycare is also booked up so far that you can’t join the lists these days. I’ve also heard bad stories about the family daycarer suddenly deciding to try another career and everyone is left literally holding the baby again.

The YWCA in Civic is showing vacancies.

Back when the world was young and I still needed childcare, it was exactly the same problem. I ended up with the kids in family day care and everyone thrived although the kids were better at speaking Spanish than English for a while . . .

Scary stuff.

I’ve been booked in since conception (the baby’s not born yet) I’ve been visiting regularly, and still don’t know whether I’ll manage to get a spot.

Thanks guys – I actually do have a spot. I’m one of the people with a permanent spot, who is hanging onto it for grim death.

I’m using my existing daycare days (and paying for them) even tho I’m off work for 6 months, cos if I give them up I’ll never get them back. This also means putting my baby in earlier than I want to really – I’d rather wait til they are 12 months, but at the moment, unless they turn one at the start of the enrolment year in Jan, you can forget it.

If it was Red Hill or nothing I’d definitely do that to keep my job tho (although I’m at the Watson end of civic). In an ideal world we could choose daycare centres based on quality, and location, but at the moment it is take what you can get.

luther_bendross said :

I suppose that my underlying worry here is that this was bound to happen when one man (Mr. E. Groves) tries to make a personal fortune at the expense of families and their children.

Look without defending the guy too much (because I just don’t know the whole story like most with an opinion) – at least he puts it on the line and trys to create something – yes it might be all smoke and mirrors, but hey whats stopping most public servants (50% 0f the Canberra population) getting off their high horse and trying to create something. They are just too scared of failure (and the resulting kicking that follows it).

That said – have you seen his now ex-wife????? don’t worry he’s doing time!

sepi said :

Poptop there is not a single vacancy in the civic area for kids under 4 according to that website.

I’d be amazed if there was – most centres tell you there is a wait of up to 6 months or more. Some people book their kids in before they are born and still don’t get a spot.

Talk to any of the centres in the Belconnen area and you might (if you’re lucky) get put on a waiting list for a permanent spot. The place we have the kids in (occasional care is all we can get) only offers permanent spots to the people that already have the permanent spots, so you’ve got Buckley’s of getting a place if you haven’t had your kids there forever! Occasional care is basically non-existent in the centres in Belconnen and the places that do family day care in the area stopped taking names for their waitlists in about June this year!
Thankfully, my kids have spots lined up in one of the Early Childhood Centres opening in the New Year. But, again, even these places (that haven’t even opened yet) are full!

Red Hill has some. Is another 10 clicks too far?

ps – civic area including Watson, O’connor and Dickson etc.

Poptop there is not a single vacancy in the civic area for kids under 4 according to that website.

I’d be amazed if there was – most centres tell you there is a wait of up to 6 months or more. Some people book their kids in before they are born and still don’t get a spot.

Jim Jones said :

The really strange this is that ABC childcare tanked because of their dodgy investment dealings and reliance on government subsidies rather than anything specifically relating to enrollment numbers (although they’ve been almost universally panned for operating badly and treating the ‘childcare’ component of their business as unimportant).

It’s a pretty complex affair – it’s been neatly summarised in Crikey.com over a number of articles. I’d suggest checking it out there for a clearer picture.

Couldn’t agree more – dodgy on a number of fronts, including the involvement of foreign sovereign investment fund in the mix.

The amazing thing about ABC is that they don’t actually own anything. The buildings are all owned by a few property trusts – which have no ties to ABC except for recieving rent on a monthly basis and the licences to operate are held by the labour hire company that employs all the staff.

Those idiots at the banks never learnt from Bond etc and loaned billions to Eddy based on his declaration that ABC had more than $3 billion in “goodwill”! That is the reason he went broke.

I don’t think many of the ACT ones will actually close – the building owners will be keen to keep a rent paying business in there and there are a number of licenced operators willing and ready to take over these operations.

Oh come on Thumper. How is anyone supposed to have kids without a decent boat?

There’s quite a number of Canberra centres with vacancies. This site lets you find them geographically. They also have a register which will alert you if a vacancy occurs in your area.

The issue is not whether people can or cannot afford childcare.
The issue is whether there is childcare available or not.

I know it’s tough and all that but seriously, if you can’t afford it then don’t have kids.

Or if you do, then cut down on the new car, the new TV, the boat, stereo, etc…

Couldn’t agree more.

thumper who are these people with kids, boats and plasma tvs – not me for sure.

and i can afford kids, as long as the daycare stays open and i can work.

I suppose that my underlying worry here is that this was bound to happen when one man (Mr. E. Groves) tries to make a personal fortune at the expense of families and their children.

I don’t have kids, so I haven’t read to much into this issue, but one thing I recall hearing is that at present only South Australia allows for the transferring of Childcare Lincenses.

Would it make sense to lobby having this ruling changed for the ACT?

Now this is a simplistic idea, with no real fore though behind it, but surely if it were possible to transfer the licenses, some enterprising body, or even a parent co-op could purchase the existing centers and allow those working in the centers to continue their jobs? Parents win, Childcare Workers win!

Given the long waiting lists for these centers I would have to assume that it would be a very profitable business.

I know it’s tough and all that but seriously, if you can’t afford it then don’t have kids.

Or if you do, then cut down on the new car, the new TV, the boat, stereo, etc…

Helpful as always, Thumper. Thanks!

I have been on one of the “subject to review” ABC centre waiting lists in the past, as it was closest to my work, but knew I’d never actually get a place there. I was 95th on the list, last I checked. I am currently on LWOP as I haven’t been able to get care for all my kids in the same centre on the same day, which means I can’t go back to work. Although that should change as the oldest will start school hours next year, so provided I can get after-school care then it will be fine. It’s quite common for mums on mat leave to keep the kids in childcare one day a week just to retain access to the childcare centre – easier to get more days in a centre you already use than get any days at all in a centre you don’t currently use.

Family Day Care programs may pick up more children with the demise of some ABC centres. But FDC isn’t ideal for everyone, and isn’t necessarily the best alternative employment for former ABC staff. We need to have both centre-based and home-based care available, staff need stability in their employment, parents need reliability in their care provider, and children need QUALITY care rather than just economically viable care.

I feel for all the folks struggling to find childcare at a reasonbale rate have just got my last of six out of care. BUT it is one of the costs of having kids… it is not a surprise, if you cannot afford to get them cared for maybe you cannot afford kids in the first place….the baby bonus dosn’t go far.

If it is left to the government to provide child care places and make the investment in capital – they will always underfund it. There are a lot of well run private businesses that didn’t borrow to the kazoo to expand like ABC did – a private sector is vital to ensure that the investment is made and that the centres can follow the demand.

I fear that an issue that started with a “perfect storm” of events – banks in the US were forced by law to make loans to folks that they previously wouldn’t have on the basis of risk ie sub-prime, followed by a hands off prudential controls regime, cheap interst rates and in my mind dishonest rating agencies – would result in a whole lot of sub-optimal re-regulation and big Government in other areas like child care. If I thought Government would do better I would support it – but history does not shine well on Government run businesses either.

For me it’s two days a week, one is $80 a day, the other $100 a day. True, it doesn’t leave me with enormous take home pay after tax and child care, but it’s worth it for me. Obviously it won’t work for everyone, but for people who can afford it, it’s worth considering. I’m just putting it out there for them to consider if they haven’t thought about it before. A lot of mothers in my mothers group are struggling to find a place in a centre even without the ABC thing. This is a possible solution for some people (but obviously not all).

But a lot of people simply don’t have the extra money to buy one-on-one care, Feebles.

Day care alone is up to something like $70 a day, and is only going to increase. If individual care is more than that, then that’s over $18k a year (if you do it 5 days a week).

Thinking laterally is fine (I’ll be coralling a lot of friends and their newborns into an informal childcare friendship group soon) – but most people are using childcare because they can’t afford NOT to work.

I think people could think a little more laterally about childcare as there are alternatives to centres.

I went back to work last month and didn’t want to put my bubba in a childcare centre because I think that one carer to four kiddies is not going to provide him with the one-on-one attention that I want for him at this age (12 months). This also ruled out family day care and unfortunately I have no family here to step in.

So I advertised privately, and found amazing babysitters that way. It works out being a bit dearer as I don’t get the childcare rebate, but he’s thriving and so happy that it’s worth it for me. I don’t have to worry about him at all while I’m at work and I get the welcome reprieve that interacting with adults provides.

The really strange this is that ABC childcare tanked because of their dodgy investment dealings and reliance on government subsidies rather than anything specifically relating to enrollment numbers (although they’ve been almost universally panned for operating badly and treating the ‘childcare’ component of their business as unimportant).

It’s a pretty complex affair – it’s been neatly summarised in Crikey.com over a number of articles. I’d suggest checking it out there for a clearer picture.

Ah Thanks.

It has already affected us. I’ve had to book two kids in right now for the maximum days I may want for all of next year (and start paying as of now), because the demand for places is now enormous, and if we don’t snap them up, someone else will get those days. So it’s already costing us money.

Wierd about the Russell one – it has a waiting list you can’t even get onto it’s so long. Strange if it’s not making a profit.

Aranda, Jervis Bay and Russell.

The ACT doesn’t have the same amount of ABC run facilities as NSW and Victoria, so we won’t really be affected as much.

That said, there’s a massive shortage of childcare places in the ACT anyway.

Russell, Aranda, Jerrabomberra and North Queanbeyan are on the list.

Could someone please list the four centres ‘subject to review’ I can’t read the pdf.

If parents are forced to leave their jobs that may force some of them out of their homes too – it would to us.

I think that part of the problem will be that there won’t be extra places for childcare workers unless new childcare facilities are created.

There will be increased demand for childcare, but a complete lack of supply. This may drive up prices as well.

As for people being forced to stay at home to look after their kids – I’m not sure that this would have a positive impact on umemployment figures. Yes, they’d be leaving jobs that might be filled by other people, but that is essentially two people swapping their employed/unemployed status.

Great point, Luther_Bendross.
However, you’d like to think that with the increased demand for childcare places there would also be an even greater increase in the demand for childcare workers, so staff from ABC wouldn’t have too much trouble picking up work elsewhere. Still, I would hate to be in their position.

I can fully understand why there is so much emphasis on the parents of the children accomodated by these centres. They’ll have to stay at home and live off a single income etc, or even find another centre (I’m aware of the lack thereof). However, most people seem to be overlooking the staff of ABC. For them, it’s not a matter of having nowhere for their children to go during the working day, but having no income.

Parents who have some community consciousness (of whom there seems to be a higher concentration in Canberra) should try and support the staff. They have families too, and quite possibly no jobs.