Australia’s care economy remains under-funded, over-stretched and inflexible. Childcare is often unavailable or inaccessible where families most need it, nor is it delivered in a culturally appropriate manner. When childcare is available, it is often in a long daycare format, mapping the traditional 9-to-5 work day, not reflecting contemporary work practices or local care needs.

This situation is stifling gender equality and further marginalising women, parents, carers and families – especially those from low socio-economic and diverse communities. Spatially targeted, flexible – yet universal – childcare models can alleviate childcare stress and address economic inequality in disadvantaged places. It’s time for childcare policy plans to consider delivering better co-ordinated place-based early childhood education and care (ECEC).

The latest NSW budget invests $20 million to support the growth of not-for-profit ECEC in disadvantaged areas, such as those in western Sydney. The Productivity Commission recently advocated for universal access to care, to address productivity costs. The Centre for Policy Development has also recommended major revisions to current ECEC funding, to establish a more universal system that better supports children.

A market-centric strategy to childcare ignores the impact of specific socio-spatial conditions on parents' workforce participation. Private, market-based ECEC providers are more likely to service wealthier suburbs where higher rates can be charged and real estate investment is most lucrative, perpetuating inequity in access.

Reconfiguring ECEC provision – including its design and delivery through a placed-based yet universal approach – is a timely and much needed intervention.

Why a place-based approach to childcare?

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed cracks in our childcare systems. Movement restrictions during the pandemic, lockdowns and the “high risk” labels imposed on disadvantaged suburbs, meant that many parents had to work from home with their children. Some market-based childcare centres experienced prolonged closures while others closed permanently. Western Sydney was one of the regions most affected by prolonged childcare closures. Yet it is home to many essential workers and a significant migrant population. During the pandemic, existing childcare systems impeded their ability to work.

While government addressed the situation with childcare subsidies, one of the lessons policymakers should learn from the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic is the value of place-based initiatives for the design and delivery of human services in underprivileged areas. More than nine million Australians live in “childcare deserts”: places where there are more than three children per childcare place available. But this situation is not uniform across Australia. Some wealthier suburbs are “childcare oases'': where there are 0.6 places per child (at least three days of childcare available for each child in an area).

Childcare is therefore a key indicator of geographies of disadvantage and inequitable communities. A recent white paper by researchers at Western Sydney University – Future of Work and Childcare – argues that Australia’s human services sector must deliver affordable and flexible childcare services across different population groups and geographies. The white paper partly attributes the childcare problem to lack of engagement by policymakers with the lived experiences and realities of families and communities.

Unfortunately, most government childcare initiatives are organised and delivered through a market-centric model. Funding initiatives for childcare innovation, such as the recently announced Flexible Initiatives Trial (FIT), also prioritise (or are only made available to) recognised childcare providers, limiting opportunities for other community-based initiatives to grow.

Market incentives, and a narrow focus on private providers, do not work in geographies where families are experiencing extreme poverty, housing stress, high levels of unemployment and caring responsibilities for the elderly or those living with a disability. It is not only morally repugnant to prioritise profits over children’s basic needs of children from families experiencing precarity – it also undermines community cohesion and citizenship, core aspects of a caring society.

Instead, spatially targeted and flexible services that respond to localised childcare needs are needed to realise equity and justice for communities such as those in western Sydney.

What does a “place-based” approach look like?

“Place-based” childcare means designing and delivering services that target disadvantaged places (for instance, rural or semi-urban), or groups of people (migrant or First Nations families), based on their locally situated needs. Unlike traditional childcare services, place-based childcare initiatives are an opportunity to co-design care systems that are valued by families and communities as they respond to, and reflect, their actual lives. For instance, collaborating with parents who have local knowledge of community, location, resources, and complexity of needs, creates a sense of ownership and prioritises equity in childcare provision. Bub Hub Blue Mountains is a recent example of a community-led co-working space with onsite childcare. It was set up by local mothers in response to the lack of local childcare spaces.

With a place-based model, government could collaboratively work with communities to understand “what childcare means” and what families consider to be flexible, valuable and effective childcare services.

Place-based childcare models can improve the wellbeing of families, communities and children. Studies in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States have demonstrated that place-based childcare initiatives create safe, non-judgemental community spaces of care and learning, which have positive long-term effects on parent wellbeing and child development.

In western Sydney, place-based childcare for lone migrant mothers living in Liverpool, one of Australia’s most marginalised suburbs, facilitated a sense of local community and place, better health, community cohesion, and neighbourhood capacity – important features for the socio-economic inclusion of women who migrate as lone parents. Similarly, a recent evaluation of an onsite mobile childcare service pilot project at Western Sydney University’s Liverpool City Campus showed that student parents’ overall university experience, sense of belonging, and study outcomes improved due to the provision of childcare on campus.

Flexible forms of childcare help parents balance multiple responsibilities and tasks. A place-based approach that sees sites of work or study and childcare services located in close proximity, or even co-located, may better meet the needs of families. If childcare is near where a carer lives, it allows them to work at home and reduces travel time. The onsite mobile childcare service for student parents at Western Sydney University allowed greater participation in the student community and a gentle transition to separation for parents and their children. It also offered an hourly service, something not available through traditional childcare models and long daycare formats.

Flexible childcare services, beyond the 7am to 6pm long daycare format, are required to meet the needs of essential workers, and those who work shifts outside of the conventional work day. This should include weekend care, in-home care and extended hours of care. Flexible childcare coupled with flexible work policies are essential to supporting parents and carers with their childcare responsibilities.

The potential in a flexible, place-based childcare system

Flexible childcare must be affordable so it is accessible and universal. Formal childcare is out of reach for most families already grappling with socio-economic disadvantage. The cost is exacerbated for families that do not have access to any childcare subsidy or support from government, such as those on temporary visas including those accessing international education. International education, besides being Australia’s third-largest export, is an important mechanism for bringing skilled migrants to this country. It is imperative that childcare be subsidised for these families as they journey towards becoming permanent residents and citizens.

Giving families and communities greater power to articulate what works for them would generate more effective universal childcare systems. Equally, the government should approach ECEC as critical infrastructure that is multifaceted and spatially determined. Markets cannot be the only answer to society’s care deficit. Flexible, universal, place-based childcare is necessary to fully support parents, carers and children, as well as for creating equitable communities and a caring society.

Dr Teddy Nagaddya is a social scientist and social work educator at Western Sydney University. Her research work with marginalised communities foregrounds the notion of place-based identity and initiatives as an approach to enhancing community cohesion, localism, economic inclusion, and gender equality. She has been a lead evaluator on place-based childcare initiatives in the marginalised neighbourhoods of NSW and is currently working on a childcare stress index project.

Dr Jenna Condie is a social scientist specialising in digital technologies and equitable communities at Western Sydney University. Using community organising as a method, her research explores blended forms of work and childcare for more liveable futures. Jenna co-founded and co-leads Bub Hub Blue Mountains Inc, a non-profit organisation that delivers co-located childcare.

Dr Sharlotte Tusasiirwe is a social work and social justice lecturer at Western Sydney University. She draws on her research and lived experiences to advocate for equitable support, particularly for student parents in higher institutions. She co-led the piloting of creche childcare for student parents at Western Sydney University, Liverpool City Campus.

Professor Kate Huppatz is a sociologist and social policy analyst at Western Sydney University. Kate draws on an intersectional perspective in her research on gender, work, family and care. She specialises in qualitative methods and consultative research frameworks.

Image credit:  Gpoint Studio