Urgently in need of care providers in kawana &
  wurtulla areas, Coolum, Noosa and Tewantin.

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   Practical Considerations Before Offering Family Day Care In Your Home
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   Yourself

   Being a Family Day Carer is a responsible job.
   Before deciding to offer day care for children
   in your home, you should ask yourself a number
   of questions which will help you determine if
   family day care is really for you.

   Ask yourself:

Am I 18 years or older?

Am I fit and healthy and free from any
    medical condition or dependency on
    medication or substance that could affect your ability to care for children?

Do I have a minimum of Certificate III in children's service or study with in three
    months of registering?

Can I offer a nurturing, family-focused environment at home?

Do I have the relevant experience caring for children?

Am I professional in my approach?

Can I offer flexibility for the children and families in my care?

Are my communication skills good?

 Do I value relationships?

Am I happy to develop and educate children in a learning environment?

Will my own children and family benefit from offering Family Day Care services?
     

   Maintaining Quality Care
   
   Family Day Care Carers are required to provide and maintain a quality childcare
   service in a safe, healthy, nurturing, friendly home environment. This includes
   adhering to:
   
Current State Regulations

Occupational Health and Safety Legislation

Scheme policies and procedures

Participating in Quality Assurance requirements

Participating in ongoing professional development often outside the hours of their
    service

operation (the hours a Carer chooses to work)

Providing parent with ongoing information about their child's daily activities.

   

   Carers must fulfil all the administrative and business requirements of a self-employed
   person, and ensure that records are retained in accordance with the timeframes and
   requirements set out in the Children’s Services Regulations. Carers are also required
   to maintain a safe workplace at all times. The support and assistance of the Carer’s
   family members in meeting these requirements and providing a professional service
   is also required.

   

   Having other people’s children in your home also means:

Providing an environment that recognises and operates in a safe and respectful
    manner

Considering the needs of your family and the families and children in care

  Maintaining confidentiality

Recognising that it is more that 'just baby sitting'. Carers need to plan programs that
    meet the individual child's needs and interests

The Carer is solely responsible for the children at all time, and cannot delegate this
    responsibility to any other household member.




Roles and Responsibilities of the Carer’s Family

As the words ‘Family Day Care’ indicate,
caring for children in your home involves
the whole family. If you have a partner,
children, or other family members living
in your house, you should, as a family, talk over your plans before starting,
because members of the Carer’s family
play an important role in the children’s
experience.

While your family members play an important role in the provision of your service it is important to remember that you are the registered carer. This means that you are responsible for making decisions about the provision of care, the day to day caring

duties such as toileting, administering medication, accepting fees and physically

receiving children into care and returning them back to their parents in the afternoon. Your family members may wish to become involved by participating in craft, reading stories, playing games etc.

 

Legal and business matters

While family day care is not as complex as running a large business, you should be considering some legal matters carefully. These involve insurance, taxes, budgeting
and licensing. All, when taken care of properly, are for your direct benefit, and serve to
protect you from unnecessary expense and liability. All childcare in this state is subject
to licensing with the State Government. The Department of Community Services
employs advisory personnel who are able to advise and assist with all regulation
matters.

 

Insurance

 
One of the first things you may have to think about is public liability insurance. Children are subject to a wide range of injuries, and while this type of insurance can be expensive, it may serve to protect you and the children.
The National Family Day Care Council (Aust) Inc. (NFDCCA) has a comprehensive insurance plan designed specifically for the unique needs of Family Day Care.

 

Useful information can be found at the link below:

 

www.familydaycareaustralia.com.au

Financial assistance 

 

The Government provides 600 payments nationally of up to $1500 to assist new carers with setting up their family day care. You will need to apply to the government to find

out if you are eligible. The family day care start up payment assists new carers with
some of the  start up costs.

 

What are the income and expenses of being a carer?

 

Carers are self employed business operators. The income and the expenses incurred varies between carers. Carers  have the control over how much they earn and
what overheads they incur.

 

INCOME

 

Income can vary depending on the type of care you provide, the hours that you provide
care for and the carer fee that you charge for each type of care.

 

How do I get paid?

 

Carers are provided with a Time Sheet that needs to be completed by carers and the parents of children attending care. This Time Sheet records the number of hours the children attended care with you and the amount of child care fee you charge to the parents.

You receive two separate payments

1. From the parent -At the end of the week you will provide a Receipt to each parent which specifies the amount that they have paid you in fees (either in cash, cheque or direct credit to your account) for that week. This fee amount is calculated as the Total fee amount less CCB.

2. From the  office- The completed Time Sheet is to be provided to the office for uploading on to the Harmony administration system fortnightly. Your bank account is then credited with the CCB amount for the fortnight (less the Carer Levy), directly into your bank account.

 

What is the your ongoing cost?

 

The office charges a carer levy to cover the costs of providing the office services. These
include:

Promotion of the  service

Providing the service of recommending children for care with a carer.

Processing Time Sheets for carers

Providing Child Development Officer support to carers.

Providing office support including processes, policies, forms etc to carers.

Providing play group services.

Providing training including initial set up and ongoing training to carers.

Monitoring carers and ensuring Quality Assurance requirements are met.

   24 hr On Call service for problems or issues that arise out of office hours.

What support does the scheme provide to carers?

Following registration, you will receive the following services free of charge;

Business Support

All relevant and necessary information to conduct your child care service

 

Newsletters, forms, checklists, policies, procedures and resource ideas to assist you
    in your business.

 

Child Care Benefit calculated from parent time sheets and deposited electronically
    into your bank account.

 

Ongoing phone support for all administrative aspects of your business.

Referral of families to place children in your care.

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Childcare Support

Regular visits from Coordination Unit staff who will assist you with all aspects of care
    and education of young children.

Exciting and informative Playgroup sessions.

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Training Opportunities

Interesting and relevant in-service training

On the job training, self paced learning modules in Early Childhood

Resource library of books, DVDs, CDs

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So you think you would like to do Family Day Care?

The next steps: Recruitment and induction of care providers

 
Step One

Thank you for your interest in becoming an approved carer with Family Day Care Providers C & R Cowling-Scaife. Please contact the coordination unit for an application pack phone 07) 54 76 33 73 or  1800139109. Please read your Information Package thoroughly before proceeding further with your application.

Should you then wish to proceed, return the completed Details Form along with your written application and selection criteria. Your written application should indicate the reasons why you are applying as well as addressing your personal suitability to working
with children.

Please note that part of your application requires you to nominate two referees (not related to you) who, preferably, can comment on your understanding of child development and your interactions with children. These referees will be contacted by
the scheme during the application process.

 This pack must be completed and sent back into the coordination unit Letters of application should be addressed to:

 Attention: Recruitment Team

Family Day Care Providers C & R Cowling-Scaife

21 Campese Tec

Nambour 4560

 

Family Day Care Providers C & R Cowling-Scaife will arrange with the applicant to do an
interview at their home. This provides information to enable the applicant and members
of the family/household to form a clear understanding of the role and responsibilities of
a care provider and the requirements of becoming a workplace.

Step Two

The coordination unit will assess the applicant on the following criteria:

Applicants must provide a letter from a medical practitioner stating they are of good
   health and free from any medical condition or dependency on medication or substance
   that could affect their ability to care for children.

A suitable notice (blue card) application for the applicant and any household members
   over 18 years old must be completed before care can be provided.

The applicant must have a current first aid and CPR certificate or enrol in and
   complete a course before care can be provided.

All applicants must be non-smokers including the other household members

Applicants must have a minimum of Certificate III in children's services or Diploma or
   study with in three months of registering.

Step Three

 

The Applicant will be interviewed to ensure they are suitable to work with children:
some of the critical aspects and personal qualities required are:

Understanding of and respect for children

Awareness of health and safety issues

Empathy with families using care

Positive approach in working with families and coordination unit

Interest in professional development and continued quality improvement

Positive approach to behaviour guidance

Effective communication skills, including verbal and written

Openness to change and new ideas

Potential to plan, implement and evaluate programs for children

Physically and emotionally able to care for young children in a group setting

Step Four

 

The co-ordination unit will visit the applicants home to access the premises suitability,
using a safety checklist. Safety Checklist (<<< click to download)

Step Five

 

Suitable applicants will be asked to undertake on the job training and assessment to allow the coordination unit to observe their skills, knowledge and personal attributes and allows applicants to have an orientation to family day care and develop a better understanding of the job.
Unsuccessful applicants will be sent a letter that they were unsuccessful and on request additional information or feedback will be provided.
 

Step Six

 

Suitable applicants that complete registration prior to commencing the family day care
service will be required to complete all home modifications and specifications outlined
on the safety checklist, complete first aid and CPR training, provide certified copy of driver’s licence, vehicle and child restraints safety inspection, provided positive suitability
notices for all parties involved, ensure all business registration (local council
requirements) are completed , insure that their insurance is current and pay the
registration cost of $200. This fee is only payable once and is not a yearly cost.
 

Registration Business Kit: $200 one off payment

What’s in it?

 

Folders for:

Timesheets

Carer profile

Parent info

Programming

Regs/Acct/quality assurance

Emergency/medication

Scheme forms

Observation books

Suggestion box

Business card and holder

Posters

Highlighters for programming

Scheme shirt and hat

Step Seven

 

Sign the family day care provider agreement and job roles and responsibilities.
Once all the above processes are completed, the care provider will be registered with Family Day Care Providers C & R Cowling-Scaife Scheme. A certificate of registration from the scheme is provided to the carer. The certificate of registration is valid for one year and care providers are required to meet the schemes requirements stated above each year to reregister.

Note: Care providers must understand that Family Day Care Providers C & R Cowling-Scaife Scheme will judge the applicant and decide on the number of children that the care provider is able to care for in a safe secure way. This may mean that the care provider is not given a total of 7 children that is allowed by Child Care Regulations/Act and that due to waiting lists and child enrolments we take no responsibility for ensuring that care providers have or are given a total of 7 children. Family Day Care Providers C & R Cowling-Scaife Scheme CANNOT GUARANTEE A REGULAR RELIABLE INCOME.

Your next step

 

Now that you have read all our information provided if you are interested in a career in
Family Day Care  what do you do?

Contact our Co-ordination unit and we will arrange to speak with you further.