In-home care available for south-west families on wait lists

Nicole Morgan, owner and director of VPM In Home Care, said families who could not access formal child care could access a private educator in their home until a vacancy became available.

The Warrnambool resident said families could use the childcare subsidy to offset the cost of the care.

Ms Morgan said a lack of child care was a nationwide issue, but it was a major issue in the south-west.

"Families are waiting years to access childcare and the registration and development of new centres is not keeping up with the demand," she said.

"The cost of living has increased this demand, with families not financially secure on one income."

Ms Morgan said urgent action needed to be taken to address the child care shortage.

"This is a nationwide crisis and needs a nationally driven resolution," she said.

"Interim measures need to be put in place to ensure that any family needing to access childcare is able to do so."

Ms Morgan said VPM In Home Care could offer child care to any families who were on wait lists.

"If they contact our office we can guide them through the process and discuss the options available to them," she said.

"We have recently completed a very successful pilot with South West Healthcare and many of these participants have commenced care."

Ms Morgan, who is president of the Australian Home Childcare Association, is a member of the federal government's advisory group to address the child care shortage.

"We have recently seen the completion of the Price Waterhouse Cooper in home care review, ACCC early childhood education and care final report, Jobs and Skills Australia early childhood education and care capacity study is under way and the Productivity Commission early childhood education and care public inquiry is in its final stages," she said.

"All of these measures are designed to resolve the bottleneck we are experiencing, however, reform takes time.

"For now in home care is a wonderful solution for families. We provide flexible, professional education and care in the family home."

Many south-west parents are waiting years to access child care, which is hampering their efforts to return to work.

A Facebook post by The Standard this week asking people if they were struggling to find a spot was flooded with comments.

"I've been on almost every list since I was six months pregnant (2021)," wrote one person.

"My son is now two and still waiting, I call every few months to be told I'm still pretty far down the list and to try three-year old kinder as I'd have more luck getting in there."

"We moved down from Newcastle last month where my daughter was in daycare four days a week and now she's home with me every day. She needs socialisation and stimulation. The daycare situation here is a joke," another person wrote.

"We moved back to the Warrnambool area two years ago and I haven't been able to secure childcare," wrote another person.