30/04/2026
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ฎโ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐๐๐: ๐โ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ก
The recent announcement that a major childcare provider is closing 40 centers nationwide (including two right here in Baldivis and Secret Harbour) amid serious child abuse allegations should serve as a wake up call.
As the mother of a three year old who has navigated the exhausting realities of the early education system, I am concerned. While I acknowledge the childcare reforms passed through state parliament last month, I cannot help but feel that our political leaders are missing the point.
The current legislative talk centers on safety, yet every political player continues to ignore the most critical reform of all: addressing an economic system that forces parents to outsource the raising of their children. Heavy taxation and an unbearable cost of living have left families with an ultimatum. We are forced to place our children in daycare for 10 hours a day, five days a week, just to survive.
Theyโre at risk of sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional harm. Worse still, theyโre growing up disconnected, without a strong bond with their parents. For many, their primary caregiver isnโt their mum or dad, itโs a daycare worker. Someone with no maternal bond or deep emotional connection. These workers are tasked with raising children during the most crucial years of development, the years that shape who they become. And the reality is, theyโre not raising them. Theyโre supervising. Theyโre providing basic care. Many arenโt even managing that well. And theyโre certainly not being paid to deeply care.
Where are the reforms that allow babies and young children to stay home with a parent, the place they belong? Where are the policies that allow a parent choose to raise their child without having to decide between survival and being present in those foundational years?
In the past decade, the number of "daycare babies" has exploded. And the result is an increase in the amount of children with little respect for authority, because the first authority figures in their lives were strangers who rotated shifts and offered no lasting connection.
Today, choosing to raise your children the way nature intended means sacrificing any hope of homeownership, financial security, or even just the occasional family holiday. Unless you come from generational wealth, took the risk of battling your biological clock into your late thirties, or had parents who financially supported your entry into adulthood, raising your own children has become a luxury.
One income used to be the standard; today, it is a pipe dream.
So, I urge our politicians: go ahead and pass your reforms to prevent the next horrifying child abuse scandal. But do not pretend the problem is solved. And to be fair, I am not pointing the finger at just one side of politics. While we have seen some progressive, well intentioned reforms pass through parliament in recent years, this broader economic crisis represents a profound failure by all sides.
Until we get acknowledgement of the harm our current economic policies are inflicting, nothing will truly change. But then again, perhaps it is easy to ignore a systemic crisis when the privilege of your position ensures that someone in your own home can always afford to stay with the babies.
๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐๐
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