Word: scheme
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...everyone's happy, right? Not quite. The birth of Susie's first child almost forced her out of the workforce. Not only does her town have no child-care center, but she has spent nearly a year on a waiting list for the area's tiny family day-care scheme, in which groups of children are looked after in a carer's home. She has no relatives nearby to help her, and few options. "If I didn't work, God, we would be struggling." She's finally found someone to look after her child several days a week...
...lists for every age group, and in some areas a lack of planning has even produced too many places. Also a problem are duplicate applications, caused when panicked parents join several different waiting lists. To reduce confusion, some councils in Sydney share centrally compiled lists of applicants; a similar scheme will soon be tried in Victoria. But where shortages exist, they're often dire, particularly for babies and toddlers, who need more intensive - and expensive - care than older children. In the Melbourne bayside municipality of Port Phillip, 1,935 children are on the waiting list for care, says Rebecca Bartel...
...seem reassuring that more than 96% of long-day-care centers in Australia are accredited, but Lynne Wannan also urges parents to do their own research. She questions the merits of the national quality assurance scheme, and is horrified that its inspections are pre-arranged. "Without spot checks," she says, "it isn't a quality assurance system at all. I can't see any reason why we don't have (random inspections)." Barbara Romeril, executive director of Victoria's Community Child Care Association, agrees that both private and community child-care centers would benefit from unannounced visits. Some...
...before their child is born qualify for a year's paid leave, which they can share with their partner. "It helps with family bonding," says Toronto economist Cleveland, "and gets rid of the problems with infant care levels." But despite a long campaign for a national paid parental leave scheme, Australia remains one of the few developed nations without...
...waiting list that can otherwise stretch two years. With 600 employees in that office alone, it's only a partial solution, admits human resources manager David McKinnon, but keeping employees with young children happy makes good business sense: "The benefit we get back is probably tenfold." Despite the scheme's success, though, it's unlikely Orica will extend it to other offices or provide on-site care, says McKinnon: "There is a philosophical debate - is it the role of employers to provide child-care facilities? Is it core business...