Family day care in crisis: 'We're not just babysitters'

Debbie Macleod's home is a hub of activity, with a section of her neat brick house transformed into a vibrant learning space for the children in her care. Colourful toys, blocks, and a play kitchen fill the room, while a small library of picture books sits nearby. Three-year-old Zayne Jardine loves spending time at family day care with Debbie.

Outside, the courtyard has been made child-safe, with climbing frames, scooters, and seesaws. For 37 years, Debbie has been a family day care educator, but she says her job has become increasingly difficult and bureaucratic, leaving her feeling undervalued.

"I'm really proud to be able to say that a child comes into my care, I learn their personalities and their interests, provide program planning, experiences, and activities to promote their learning journey," she said.

Debbie is not alone in her concerns. A national Deakin University study of 200 family day care educators found many feel professionally isolated and unrecognised. The study revealed that these educators, all of whom are women, are often perceived by outsiders as "just babysitters" or a lower-quality option compared to centre-based educators.

"We're actually qualified and we do a lot of paperwork, administration, program planning, observations, reflections and we have to journal everything and have evidence for government bodies to prove that we are doing our job," Debbie said.

Lead researcher Professor Andrea Nolan said workers in the sector feel misunderstood. "It's anything but babysitting. These educators are sole traders, so they're doing everything," she said.

"Their work doesn't finish when the children leave, which could be as late as six o'clock, and then their family comes home. They're the ones that are doing the administration, the relationship building and the planning."

The heavy workload is having an impact on the workforce, with figures showing the number of approved family day care services declined from 7 per cent in 2016 to 2 per cent this year. Professor Nolan expressed concerns that family day care might disappear in Australia, which would be a loss for many families and children.

Erica Jardine, whose three-year-old son Zayne attends Debbie's family day care, says it has been a great experience for him. Initially, she had concerns about safety, but now feels much happier with her child in a home environment.

"I feel much safer sending my child to someone I know and someone I can trust," she said.

The childcare industry has been under renewed pressure after cases of abuse in childcare centres were uncovered. A Victorian government review found delays to revocations of Working with Children Checks, poor cross-agency information sharing, and underfunded regulatory oversight.

In response, education ministers agreed to a National Early Childhood Worker Register and mandatory national child-safety training. Debbie said she is all for protecting kids, but the system is unfair to small operators like herself.

"When they make a rule or regulation, they're making it with a centre in mind where there's more than one person," she said.

The federal government has agreed to extend funding for a 15 per cent pay rise for childcare workers, but family day care workers who are contractors miss out. A regional trial of family day care is underway, aiming to provide support and resources to educators.

Family Day Care Australia chief executive Andrew Paterson said the sector has come a long way and plays an important part in the early childhood education and care landscape, particularly in regional areas.

"Family day care plays an incredibly important part in the entire early childhood education and care landscape, but particularly in a lot of areas across regional, rural and remote Australia," he said.

Debbie hopes that family day care will be recognised as a different business model to centre-based care, and that the government will provide more funding to support educators like herself.