Challenges in finding early childhood places:

As the Productivity Commission undertakes its Australian Childcare enquiry, a new national survey has been released revealing parents biggest challenges in securing a childcare place.

The survey from Daycare Decisions, a website that provides resources for Australian parents using and choosing childcare, asked over 700 parents to identify the major problems they face in deciding on the childcare that suits their family. The top five most common issues are:

1. Deciding and comparing child cares – Parents were dissatisfied at the level of information available online to help them choose and compare childcare.

2. Not knowing where you are on the list – Parents want more transparency when they are on a child care waiting list to assist them in planning their return to work.

3. Researching the best type of care for your family – Parents new to child care want to know about all the different types of care available.

4. Finding out about what other parents say about the child care you are considering  - Parents want to hear opinions from other parents and hear from their chosen centre’s users.

5. Visiting all the centres/homes – Parents in Brisbane waitlist their children on up to 6 child care centre lists and in larger capital cities like Sydney and Melbourne, up to 15.

Daycare Decisions founder Rebecca McIntosh said finding a child care place was a time consuming and stressful process for parents.

“Choosing childcare is major decisions for parents and our findings show that parents want more detailed, accessible information in order to make an informed decision.

“Parents find it so strange they have to put their name down on a waiting list before they have even had a baby” One parent from Melbourne told us she had put her name down on 15 waiting lists.

“The pressure on parents to secure a place before returning to work is of great anxiety to many parents and some even have to delay their return in order to secure care.

“Our survey found this was the case in both metropolitan and regional areas,” she said.

Rebecca said the report has been compiled and submitted to the federal government enquiry.

“We hope that the findings of this survey assist the enquiry to tackle the difficult challenges confronting Australian parents.

“In addition to highlighting their key pain-points, the survey allowed parents to provide a wide range of comments and suggestions for improving the process.

Some of these ideas included integrating childcare into schools, government funding to support employers to provide childcare service and the introduction of flexible hours schemes that would offer more options for shift workers.”.

“Parents also suggested opening up the system to include nannies and au pairs under approved care,” she said.

The Australian Government's Productivity Commission Review of Childcare is the first enquiry into the topic since the 1990s.