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Central Canberra Family Day Care

Central Canberra Family Day Care endeavours to provide high quality childcare in the homes of qualified early childhood educators. The groups of children in care are small which provides for maximum attention to the needs and developmental potential of your child. The service by our Early Childhood Eduators is personal and consistent which means that your child grows and develops under the guidance of one person over a long period of time instead of getting used to and acquiring trust to a different person every so often. You can find out about your child's adventures of the day through personal communication with the Ealrly Childhood Educators rather than through reading a note in a big diary.

We at Central Canberra Family Day Care are proud of the achievements over the 30 years of operation and we are confident to remain one of the most creative, progressive and diverse Family Day Care Schemes in Australia for many years to come. We are also one of the only left-over independent Schemes among the 243 Family Day Care Schemes in the country. That brings with it a level of freedom others don't enjoy, bit also costs other Schemes don't incur.

We are grateful for your continuing support of our service, we acknowledge that fee increases can be painful for families and we regret that we have to go down that path every so often. In the face of continuing cut-backs in government funding, however, fee increases are the only way to survive, and if our service ceases to exist nobody, least of all the parents, benefit in the end. Please take your time to read this booklet carefully. Any questions can be directed at the staff of the Coordination Unit between normal business hours.

Before we launch into the fees and guidelines, please note some points about payment options, Centrelink assistance, debts, time sheets and complaints.

Fees

We have 4 main types of care availble for our families. These include:

Long day rate (maximum 9 hours)- $65.00/day
Short day rate (maximum 6 hours)- $45.00/day
Casual care- $10 per hour
Before & After school care-$7.20/hour

All of our staff choose their hours of operation, we ensure that our staff do not get burnt out and limit them to a 9 hour day. Families wishing to use care outside of the operational hours are able to do so if their early childhood educator agrees. Please be aware however they families will need to pay the full cost of staff wages at time and a half for any care used outside the operational hours

Payment Options
Payment made by Direct Debit has an $8.50 administration fee per week per family.

payments can also be made by cheque, money order or by mail. Internet banking and EFTPOS is also available. CASH must be paid at the Family Day Care office. These options have an administration fee of $10 per week per family. Any late payment will incur a fee of $5.00 per week.

Financial Assistance to Families
Child Care Benefit is available to eligible families and is paid at up to $4.63 per hour (100 % CCB) to a maximum of $173.50 per week. You should lodge applications with the Family Assistance Office through Centrelink before your child goes into care.Once you have lodged your form please contact the office with your CRN and your child's CRN, to ensure that you receive the correct Child Care Benefit. To claim the 50% rebate quarterly from the government tou must be registered with Family Assistance Office. After 37.5 hours of care per week, families pay full fees.

Bad Debts
Central Canberra Family Day Care is a non-profit organisation and in order to keep all families fees as low as possible we cannot afford to carry bad debts. We ask you to pay your bills on time and contact us immediately should you experience payment difficulties. In some cases we have had to suspend and even terminate care. In order to recover monies owed we refer outstanding accounts to a debt collection agency with a 20% surcharge to cover the recovery costs

Time-sheets
Time sheets are on display at the Child Care Worker's home. We require that you sign time sheets fortnightly. You should also make sure that you are satisfied with the entries made on the time sheets.

Complaints and Disputes
We will do our best to settle your complaints informally and swiftly. Should you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of a complaint you have made you can contact the ACT Office of Childcare on (02) 6207 1114. If your complaint concerns and incident or practice you are unhappy about and you have exhausted your avenues with us, you can also contact the National Childcare Accreditation Council on 1300 136 554.

Registration Fee

A registration fee of $65.00 is taken before commencing care.. This registration fee can be used in three (3) forms a) As a potential loss of income for care providers after a contract has been signed, and the care does not commence b) as part of the final weeks fee after the parent has given notice c) to settle any outstanding accounts after termination where the account is less than $65.00

Membership Fee

Being an incorporated association, all clients of the servuce are required to become a member. There is a yearly charge of $30 per family, which pays for the membership of Central Canberra Family Day Care Incorporated. All families are welcomed and encouraged to be involved in the Board of Governance which is elected on an annual basis.

All Fees and Guidlelines can be located in our Family Handbook