Are you interested in becoming a Family Day Care Educator?
Family Day Care Educators are self employed and provide education and care in a home setting, creating a safe, secure, child friendly environment that will support the development and learning of young children.
Educators offer a flexible and personalised service, they ensure the children develop a sense of belonging, that they are confident with a strong sense of wellbeing.
The Y offers educators playgroups, access to toy library, 24 hour access to a staff person, opportunities for professional development and much more.
As a minimum requirement to become part of our dynamic team and commence FDC operation, educators must have completed their Cert III in Early Childhood Education and Care.
- hold a current First Aid Certificate
- hold a Federal Police Clearance (no more than 6 months old at the time of application)
- hold a current Working with Children Card
- have Current Public Liability Insurance
- be able to provide a medical certificate
- successfully complete the YMCA WA induction
- be able to work without direct supervision
- be able to respond to children’s individual needs
- maintain confidentiality.
Hear from our Family Day Care Educators why you should join the Y!
Testimonials
- The staff at the Busselton Resource Centre are all friendly, helpful and very professional. They helped me sort out what I needed to do as an educator in the family day care sector. In the three years of operating my Family Day Care business, I have grown and developed new skills and knowledge and I'm absolutely loving my work. This is all due to the support I get from the Y. - Robyn
- I love being apart of the Y because they treat you like family. They encourage growth, goals, individuality and personal strengths and show respect for the work and practices of their FDC Educators. I am so grateful to be doing what I do, and I am proud to represent the Y FDC Service as one of their Educators. - Cherie
FAQS
Set-up costs vary from house to house, depending if there are any modifications that are required. The most common set-up costs include; putting safety film on windows under 1 metre, ensuring fences are appropriate, buying tables, chairs and resources for the children.
Ongoing costs are the membership fee of $300 for FDC and $320 for IHCC. The educator levy is a cost that is charged to educators to ensure the service can provide support and processing to all educators. Please contact the service for this information.
Yes you can. However, the pet/s needs to have an enclosure that the children do not have access to. Dogs and cats will need to have an area where they may go to keep them and the children safe. We understand that these are your beloved animals and may be included on your daily program with the children, but they cannot be left unsupervised with the children. Birds, rabbits and guinea pigs will need a cage with something to stop the children placing their fingers in the cage.
No. As long as an educator is actively working towards their qualifications and can show progress an educator can maintain membership with the service. The educator may be asked to provide the service with a statement of attainment to show their progress.
The Y prides itself in the high level of support given to educators by our qualified and experienced staff. Staff are always available to help with all areas of operation.
Staff are available Monday to Friday during office hours and outside these hours in case of an emergency. Playgroups are provided to educators through both face to face and via a virtual platform where educators can network.
A dedicated educator Facebook platform has been created to provide up to date information and training to educators. The service conducts face to face and virtual sessions to keep educators abreast of current trends and information.
A toy and resource library is provided to members of the Y to aid in educator’s delivery of their programs. The Y processes children’s enrolments, child care subsidy and attendance sheets sent through by educators. The service pays an educator the family’s child care subsidy and then sends an educator a parent portion to pay statement which allows an educator to see how much a family owe them for the week of care conducted.
On average the process takes about 6 months. This process can vary and really depends on an educator’s level of motivation to start their business. The item that usually takes the longest to complete is shire approval. Please call your shire and talk with them about their requirements and time frames. The training is self-paced and can be completed in about 6 weeks if an educator is motivated but generally takes about 3 months.
A Family Day Care can only be approved for a maximum of 7 children with 4 of those being under kindergarten age. A service cannot have two Family Day Care educators operating at once in one building.
The service visits every 4 weeks to begin with and every 6 weekly thereafter. The service aims to support educators to provide the best care and environments for children as they can and provide advice and tools for educators to use in doing so. The staff support educators to ensure they are meeting and maintaining the required regulations and law in relation to caring for children in Family Day Care.
You are welcome to have your family in care however there are now regulations that state an educator must maintain over 50 percent of non-relatives in care to be compliant. This would mean that if you had your 2 grandchildren in care that you would be required to have at least 3 other children who are not related to you in care over the fortnight.
Family Day Care offers educators a flexible and rewarding way to earn an income. Educators are able to explore children’s interests and interact within their community by taking children out on excursions if permission is granted by Parents. Children learn in a rich environment where they can be included in tasks such as shopping for cooking and craft experiences, gardening projects to grow vegetables for cooking, playgroups, story time at the library, intergenerational experiences and many more. Family Day Care also allows educators to have their children with them and earn an income at the same time.
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