occasional child care cuts

report from the roundtable - 26 jul 2011

At last week's council meeting I had submitted a motion regarding the withdrawal of funding for the Take a Break Occassional Child Care.

The motion called for a report so council could understand the implications for families and providers of the service (usually community houses) in the Yarra Ranges and also consider the most effective advocacy actions.

There's currently over 400 families affected in Yarra Ranges and 5 providers across the municipality being Belgrave South Community House, Japara House, Chirnside Park Neighbourhood House, Upper Yarra Community House and Monbulk Neighbourhood Playgroup. Occasional Child Care provides such an important service to family I felt is was very important that councillors were aware of the impact.

At a recent meeting with one of our local MPs there was a commitment made to reinstate the state funding if the federal government also reinstated their component of the funding (axed in last budget). It's time for both tiers of government to come together and reinstate this important funding rather than point the finger of blame at each other.

I'm pleased to say councillors voted unanimously to support the motion.

There's a facebook campaign running on this issue, if you're interested in finding out more click here.