In Home Care
- have challenging or complex needs (such as disability or serious illness of family member)
- are geographically isolated from other types of childcare
- work non-standard hours.
Education and care delivered by a service, in a family’s own home
Once a family’s eligibility for In Home Care is confirmed, the In Home Care Support Agency works to find a service provider or providers with a suitable educator for the family.
Once everybody agrees that it will work, the educator is engaged by the service provider to provide education and care for the family in the family’s home.
The family can apply for the Child Care Subsidy – this is the Australian Government subsidy to offset the cost of employing the educator.
The In Home Care Support Agency tries to ensure that the educator is placed in a family’s home is as skilled as possible. They will always have first aid training and child protection training. Often they will also have qualifications in education and care.
In Home Care is a government approved type of education and care
The Australian Government doesn’t provide In Home Care. But it provides Guidelines under which the In Home Care program operates. You can read them here. It also provides subsidies for eligible families using In Home Care. You can find out more about subsidies here. The Australian Government also provides funding for the In Home Care Support Agency to advocate for families and to provide support to In Home Care service providers. In Home Care is also regulated in some areas under State or Territory legislation.
- Each In Home Care educator can care for up to 5 children from the one family. (If the family has more than is more children a second educator can be engaged).
- A family can use In Home Care for a few days a week or every day, depending upon what they need (and what they can afford).