What does the Productivity Commission inquiry into childcare mean?

The complicated Australian  system of government means that responsibility for childcare is divided between the federal and state governments.  This means that the states have responsibility for regulation of childcare, while the while the Commonwealth has the major funding role.  And the old adage rules: 'who holds the purse strings holds the power.'

The Prime Minister has announced the terms of reference for a Productivity Commission inquiry into Early Childhood services. This will impact on families, childcare workers, agencies, services and taxpayers.  He announced that the inquiry will focus on developing a system that that is flexible,results in increased workplace participation and ensures that children's developmental and educational needs are met. No commitment to increased funding has been made at this stage.

The press release announcing the inquiry, stated that 'The market for child care and early childhood learning services is large, diverse and growing, and it touches the lives of practically every family in Australia. Almost all children in Australia participate in some form of child care or early learning service at some point in the years before starting school. '  Many people, particularly women, say that they are 'unable to work because they are unable to find suitable and/or affordable childcare.'  This includes the limited hours of most services which were set up to meet the needs of people working 9-5, near home, rather than working shifts or extended hours or with long travel times. Concern was also expressed about the needs of vulnerable and disabled children, and those who are entering school with significant learning and developmental delays.  

Home based childcare provides families some flexibility in working arrangements and our nannies are well equipped to help children with developmental delays and disabilities, but we also need to ensure our workers do not work excessively long hours and are adequately paid. 

I have long believed that the extension of the childcare rebate to families in this sector would help with the costs and be equitable with childcare centres.  Another option, which the Productivity Commission will consider is the New Zealand model where home-based care is subsidised for low and middle income families when it is provided by a registered carer who is supported by an educational service.

Parents, nannies and other interested parties need to keep informed about these issues, think about them and be prepared to act to ensure we get a system that meets the government's objective of 'a system that is not only affordable, but ensures people can work flexible hours whilst knowing that their children are receiving high quality child care.'

Links

Government Press Release

Productivity Commission Information

Articles from The Age: Prime Minister's Announcement 17/11/2013

                                       Support for Nannies 18/11/2013

                                       Childcare centres vs nannies 19/11/2013

Ties that bind....or strangle

At present , everywhere I look "Family" seems to be the theme:

• the novel I'm reading, The Chimneysweeper's Boy by Barbara Vine;
• the newspaper which reports both horrific tales of child abuse and a report from the Australian Institute of Family Studies which shows 10 and 11 year old girls do more work than boys (nice to have confirmed what we already knew!);
• websites I've been looking at like the Little Big Book Club which has family themed children's books for the month of June (Little Big Book Club);

As an experienced worker in areas relating to mothers and children, families have been very much my focus.  I believe strongly in the family unit for its role in nurturing and caring for its members, but I would be a fool to think that all families are alike.  They vary in their structure and in their ability to nurture, and in the worst situations family ties can serve to strangle the lives of their members, both physically and figuratively.

How would I recognise a healthy family?  It would be one where:

• everyone's needs are usually met
• the members care about each other
• the members treat each other with consideration
• members are encouraged to fulfil their dreams/potential
• there is lightness and fun to counteract the difficulties of life

While Tolstoy famously wrote in Anna Karenina wrote 'All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way', there are many characteristics of unhappy families:

• members need to compete against each other to have their needs met, with those who do best in this struggle getting the biggest share of attention, love, power, material goods, education while the others are diminished in their development
• tensions exist between members resulting in physical, emotional and at times sexual abuse
• those not receiving adequate care and attention develop manipulative or attention seeking behaviour, even becoming unmanageable

All new parents are learners, and there will often be much trial and error on the way to establishing a pattern of family life.  Today there is almost too much advice for parents to absorb.  Society and its commentators are quick to judge the behaviour of young people and to blame it on their upbringing and family life; barristers are very able at presenting to courts harrowing tales of abuse as mitigation of their clients' offending, yet most parents start out wanting the best for their children, and do the best they can to achieve this.  And most families manage to do a reasonable job: not perfect, but not terrible, either.

As a community, and as those who work in close contact with families it is important to encourage, support and help young parents rather than stand back and condemn.  As the well known African proverb says 'it takes a whole village to raise a child' so we all have to share the responsibility, not stand back and then condemn the parents if it goes wrong.

How to choose the right nanny!

Once a family has decided to pursue care for their children in their own home by a nanny, the big question is 'How do we choose the right nanny?'

You may want the perfect nanny, but in this real world, let's focus on choosing the right nanny for you and your children.

Obviously as an agency owner(Susan Rogan Family Care) I would recommend using the services of a reputable agency to assist you with this task.  We meet all our potential nannies face to face, sight their Working with Children and police checks, their qualifications and their work history.  We check referees to verify their experience and performance, and list their availability on our database along with any particular strengths and any special requirements eg needing a smoke-free environment, allergies.

When the agency receives a request for a nanny, you will be asked about your requirements, the structure of your household, other care arrangements or activities, use of a car and special needs of the children.  We advise you about the cost of hiring a nanny, and will often recommend a labour-hire model where, for a fee, we pay the nanny during her employment by you and take care of associated employment responsibilities like tax, superannuation and WorkCover.  The other main use of an agency is to recruit a nanny, with the family undertaking all the responsibilities of employer. After consultation we will look at our database and arrange with you to meet one or more of our candidates. 

This is where your work starts!

The candidates that you meet can all potentially do the job you ask, but the decision is yours.

You want a nanny who fits in with your particular family.  A quiet, gentle person may not fit with a family with three very active, sport mad little ones.  A warm, relaxed but messy nanny might not suit you if you value a very ordered, clean house.

To help make the decision you will need to give some thought to:

• the style of your own parenting
• your values
• your personalities as parents as well as those of your children
• the activities you want the nanny to be responsible for

Our agency will give clients advice on questions they may find helpful during an interview, or there are on line resources eg Nanny Interview Questions
When the time comes for the interview with the nanny, try to arrange for both parents to spend some quiet time with her asking questions to satisfy your main concerns and then make time for the nanny to meet the children and to spend a little time interacting with them.  You do not have to let the nanny know your decision at the time of interview, rather discuss your impressions and decision with the consultant.  You might choose to see more candidates, or be delighted with the first one you meet.  If you are unsure, you might see if the candidate can spend a couple of hours with you and the children so you can see for yourself how they all get on.

Once you decide to employ a candidate, contracts are signed and then we advise a trial period, with either party being able to withdraw without notice.

When a nanny is employed under a labour-hire model, the agency continues to be available for consultation during the period of employment so any issues can be swiftly resolved, and regular home visits are made to ensure that the arrangement continues to work well. 

Parents who decide to employ a nanny without the use of an agency must undertake all the recruitment and employment responsibilities themselves.  This can be an onerous task for those working full time.

Remember, you might not find a magical Mary Poppins, but the most important thing is to find a nanny who is competent and with whom you are comfortable, so that your children are safe, nurtured and assisted to develop their skills and knowledge.

5 ways to lose a good professional nanny

Parents, I'm always happy to offer advice and here is my action plan to lose your good nanny:

1. Be mean and don't negotiate with a nanny over pay increases and leave.  You could even go so far as insisting the nanny provide her own tea and coffee.  You pay the nanny to work, not sit around drinking tea and coffee.

2. Be unreliable and stay late at work without notice and negotiation.  Your time and job is important, and nannies shouldn't have a life of their own.

3. Be inconsiderate and insist on the nanny doing the housework you hate eg washing up from the previous night's dinner party; washing and ironing your clothes.  'Other duties as required' in a contract means just that, and when the children are asleep or occupied, there is plenty of time to do 'extras".

4. Be thoughtless and refuse to acknowledge the work your nanny is doing with your child/children.

5. Be jealous and accuse the nanny of trying to take your child's affection.  You are the parent and even if the nanny spends more time with and is more responsive to the child, you should get cross and put the nanny down when the children say, 'Jemima always takes us to the park' or 'lets us eat jelly'.

Watch out next time for '5 ways for a nanny to lose a dream job.'

Developing Professional Nannies

Today might be Moomba, but to oldies like me, it's Labor Day and began as a celebration of the world's first agreement to the slogan '8 hours work, 8 hours recreation and 8 hours rest'.

Today many people have much longer working days, while others are fortunate enough to have a 35 or 37 hours week.

When I first became involved with nannies, I was determined to see workers who were well trained, and adequately paid.

There were various images of home based child care.

• Mary Poppins, coming in and magically 'fixing up' children
• the old family retainer who was employed when the first baby was born and lived with the family for years, until all the children were well grown, and probably acting as nanny for their children as well
• the 'au pair' who lived with family, helping out with the children while learning English, and probably flirting with the father along the way
• the little old lady from down the street who sat in a corner knitting while the children played

I wanted to help produce a new breed of nannies: professionally trained, working for families for a set number of hours, and living independently, not in a room of the family home where there is no real possibility of 'down time'.

I believe that looking after other people's children is important, and needs to be done by those who care about children, and who have a good knowledge of child development and appropriate activities (play, creativity, learning, rest, cleanliness etc etc..).

But looking after children in someone's home is even more specialised.  When I started a nanny school in 1992, I focussed on the areas of competence that nannies would need to do this work.  This is not the same as working in a child care centre where there are other staff to give support and help with the role.

Being a nanny is a very responsible role and as I moved into the employment area I thought it only right that nannies should be paid a wage commensurate with their skills and responsibilities. I am however a realist, and one of the realities is that the money to pay a nanny comes from a family's income so a balance needs to be struck.

At the Agency, one of our roles is to match families and nannies, to help them to work out the details of contracts, and usually to take on the employment role which means that nannies are taxed, superannuation is paid on their behalf, leave is organised, and of course families are invoiced.  In the matching and negotiating process it is our role to ensure both parties have realistic expectations of themselves and each other.  It is not easy for a parent to leave a child in someone else's care, nor is it easy nannies who are often not experienced in dealing with people whose working life is all high powered decision making.  The agency is also there to help resolve any issues that arise during the course of employment.

I'm also committed to nannies receiving on-going training to enhance their skills.  Unlike many workers whose training takes place during working hours, training for home based workers has to be on Saturdays and is not paid, so it is always pleasing to see such good attendance and high level of commitment from those who come. Our next training day is Saturday May 5 and will focus on safety and security. Training is free of charge to all Susan Rogan nannies.