Child care centres

Press, 9 August 1980, Page 14

Child care centres

Sir, — In response to Margaret Farquhar’s statement that child care centres do not need Government funding and some are charging exceptionally high fees, I would like to inquire as to how a non-subsidised centre keeps its costs low. Firstclass child care is very expensive to operate. The greatest expense is the salaries of the staff who are fully qualified and of outstanding quality in the best of our child care centres. The ratio of staff per child under two years in accordance with the Child Care Centre Regulations, 1960, is at least one staff member for five children, and for children over the age of two years at least one staff member for six children. Then there is the cost of suitable equipment, daily running expenses and activities for the children. A four-

year-old in a child care centre leaves a vacancy in a kindergarten, so there should be some Government assistance for children in child care centres. — Yours, etC NICOLA DINWIDDIE' August 7, 1980. Sir, — Like Margaret Farquhar (August 6) I wonder how parents who earn $lOO net cash find the $4O necessary for child care in some centres. However, as the user of a centre which is parent operated I would disagree with her about the funding of such centres. Our centre does not aim to- make a profit but merely to cover the costs of employing suitable trained staff and providing attractive and educational facilities for our children. Government assistance to the centre has been non-existent so far, although parents in real need can be helped by the Social Welfare Department. Council assistance in the form of small equipment grants does not go towards normal operating costs which are totally borne by the parents using the centre. In order to keep the costs of a centre low, it would seem to be necessary either to pay the staff yery low wages or maintain the numbers of children at the greatest legal level. — Yours, etc.,

JANET DOLLAN. August 6, 1980.