Family battling cancer relies on donations to pay for in-home child care

Emilia and Alyssa are both undergoing treatment for leukaemia, and need to be kept safe at home to avoid illness. (Supplied) The in-home childcare sector is not currently eligible for a government-funded worker retention payment to meet the cost of historic educator pay rises. More than 70 per cent of families have reduced their hours or withdrawn from care because they can't afford to absorb the rising cost of wages. Calls are growing for urgent government action with serious concerns that children are being put at risk. Link copiedShareShare articleNot a single childcare operator in a little-known part of the sector called in-home care say they are financially viable, leaving the 810 vulnerable families who rely on it at risk of losing vital childcare. The findings come from a survey of the 23 remaining in-home care operators by its lobby group, which said its exclusion from a government wage subsidy scheme left it on the brink of collapse. The Australian Home Childcare Association (AHCA) report found 31 per cent were at risk of closure, 72 per cent reported families were withdrawing from care and 77 per of operators said educators were given reduced hours or had left the sector. To qualify for in-home care families live remotely, do shift work, have a child protection order, or serious illness and have an educator provide care in the home. The government has been accused of breaking a promise to provide cheaper childcare by families, the opposition and the crossbench. Ashley Perez (left) says it was "really bad luck" to have not one, but two daughters, diagnosed with leukaemia. (Supplied) Mother-of-three Ashley Perez from Lara near Geelong in Victoria, needs in-home childcare to keep her daughters Emilia, 7, and Alyssa, 5, safe during leukaemia treatment. While Ms Perez said she did not have energy for anger, she felt "disappointed and let down that the government made promises for [childcare] to be accessible to all, when there's so many pockets that are still left out". She said participating in mainstream education during their chemotherapy would put her children at high risk of infection with potentially serious consequences. In-home care has been a huge help for the girls to feel normality, and continue learning while undergoing treatment. (Supplied) "I would like the government to understand how important it is for children like mine, for other vulnerable children, to just be put on a level playing field with kids who can attend mainstream services," she said. "A single cold could send them to hospital. So having someone available to keep educating my girls while all these nasty viruses are going around is critical to not only their learning, their safety, but also their mental health." Ms Perez warned if the sector collapsed, children battling serious illness would be left behind or put at risk. While Emilia and Alyssa are undergoing chemotherapy, the family feels fortunate that their prognosis is positive. (Supplied) In a statement, the government said it had lifted the subsidy rate to 90 per cent for low-income families and was working with the in-home care sector, reducing the amount families paid. "I know that in-home care is important to the around 800 families who use it and who, for a range of important reasons, can't participate in centre-based care," Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh said. "We'll continue working with the in-home care sector to determine how best to support their workforce to provide education and care support to families." Nicole Morgan, from the AHCA said the sector had already shrunk significantly before the wage rises due to affordability issues but was now at risk of total collapse. Two years ago the government announced it would fund a worker retention payment to cover the cost of a historic 15 per cent pay rise for childcare workers. Unlike centre-based operators who are eligible for the government's worker retention payment, in-home care providers have been left to pass the cost on to families. The federal government has announced it will fund a 15 per cent wage increase for early childhood education workers, tied to a commitment from childcare centres to limit fee increases. The first 5 per cent pay rise started in March and another 5 per cent rise is expected in July. Ms Morgan said it would cost $6.3 million annually to extend the subsidy to in-home care providers, compared to the $3.4 billion government spend on centre-based wage subsidies. "If the children in centre-based care are able to access this increased funding, I don't understand why the vulnerable child or the remote child or the child whose mother and father are frontline workers for the Australian people … are kept out of it," Ms Morgan said. Western Australia's Liberal Party Senator Matt O'Sullivan said he was "very concerned" about the sector's plight and would pursue the government in senate estimates unless a fix was introduced. He said the government wa

Family battling cancer relies on donations to pay for in-home child care

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