“Dial a Grandparent” could help Lorne childcare shortage

A NEW community-driven initiative aims to create a roster of informal childcare in Lorne as a band-aid solution to keep workers and families in the town.

Lorne artist and business owner Anna McIldowie helped organise a public meeting at the church hall earlier this week to discuss her “Dial a Grandparent” and “Lorne Babysitters Club” concept.

Affordable housing for workers in Lorne has become harder and harder to find because of rising interest rates and rising rents.

This has led to a knock-on effect of a lack of childcare workers and childcare places in the town, which has only exacerbated the situation.

Early last year, Lorne Community House was reduced to one part-time educator restricted to looking after a maximum of four children, with between 20 and 30 families being told they had no access to childcare in Lorne.

“For many families, there’s no childcare,” Ms McIldowie said.

“At the start of this year, we thought we were going to have at least two educators working in childcare, and then right at the beginning on the Monday, we were told there was no second educator.

“So of all the families who thought they had places, many were told their child could no longer go.

“But this is just the tip of the iceberg – [childcare places] has been insecure for a long time, and this was the final straw, and it felt like we were in crisis.

“Because of this, some families are saying ‘We’ve going to have leave town, we cannot go on like this’.

She said families held urgent meetings to discuss what would happen next, “and out of that came this really amazing level of goodwill from the older generations”.

“They were saying ‘What can we do, how can we help? We’ve got time and energy and we want to support you’.

“What’s really great about this moment, and everyone coming together, is to really reframe for all of us in the community just how fundamental childcare is in town, and for us to value that work and to value those workers.

“If parents can’t work, there’s less people working in the essential services; if families can’t live in the town because of no childcare there’ll ultimately be no kids to go to the P-12 college.”

Ms McIldowie said Dial a Grandparent and Lorne Babysitters Club would widen the already existing arrangements between some families, but would be a “very temporary” solution only until more secure childcare places were created.

“And sometimes, it’s not a lot – you just need one more day – but it’s very hard because it’s very expensive as well.”

She said the childcare staffing issue was tied closely to rising housing prices in Lorne.

“Why would you come to work here three days a week and you can’t even get a house to live in, and you’re not even getting paid much as a childcare worker? It’s very complex.”