“Centres Facing Closure"

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31521, 8 November 1967, Page 3

“Centres Facing Closure"

Already there was evidence that centres faced closure because present economic conditions made it difficult and indeed often impossible for parents to pay the fee charged by the registered Child Care Centre, Mrs S. Davies, of Nelson, said in her presidential address to the conference of the New Zealand Association of Child Care Centres, at Marton. This did not mean that the woman who needed to work stayed home with her child, but that she placed it with private people who advertised child care in the home to earn extra cash and who, because they were not subject to the provisions of the regulations if taking fewer than three children, were able to charge less, while at the same time not always offering the standard of child care desired, she said.

It was recognised that children who must be apart from their parents required attention of a good standard geared to their emotional and physical needs. It was obvious that unless the need for some financial assistance to centres was recognised, this trend would continue and the longterm repercussions would be felt in the future. As always, in times of economic crisis, it was the humanities that suffered first—as though they were luxuries, said Mrs Davies.