Parents have been banned from adding unborn babies to some childcare centre waiting lists in the city because demand is so high.
Melbourne City Children’s Centre has more than 700 families on the waiting list, with parents waiting up to two years for a place.
Coordinator Angie Bromley said places in quality centres were nearly non-existent for families working and living in the city.
“In the CBD there’s really no vacancies,” Ms Bromley said.
“Quite often families are having to wait 18 months to two years to get a place,” she said.
by Newtown grafitti
She said parents were often surprised at the waiting time.
“We’re pretty honest about it. They usually get a bit of a shock. They understand straight away that it’s just the way it is,” she said.
The Greens released a report last week that revealed 76% of childcare centres in the centre of Melbourne had no vacancies for 0-2 years olds.
In the accompanying release, Federal Greens MP Adam Bandt said the difficulty in finding childcare places was putting pressure on families.
“In Melbourne, if you don’t get on a waiting list as soon as you get pregnant, it can be tough to find a childcare place,” Mr Bandt said.
In the five City of Melbourne-run childcare centres, parents are banned from adding unborn children to waiting lists.
“Having unborn babies on the list didn’t give a realistic view of how long the waiting list was,” Ms Bromley said.
The government’s mychild website shows only a few centres in the city have availability during the week.
Genevieve Williams has two children aged one and five, and runs a playgroup in the Docklands.
She says centres need to be more upfront about how many places are available.
“There needs to be more honest statistics about turnover from these childcare centres, instead of promoting themselves like private schools, which is not what they are,” Ms Williams said.
“Especially with first time parents, they need to not make it such an obstacle course,” she said.
According to the Bureau of Statistics, there has been a 21% increase in children aged 0-4 in the Melbourne electorate since 2006.
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