Should I start putting our names down?

[Olismum]

Hi, I am new to the whole world of child care and not sure if I should be putting our names down early or not, lol. A couple of weeks ago we were told that we were being posted to Adelaide mid year. I was really excited as Adelaide is my home town and I really wanted to go home. Last Thursday though we got official word that hubby has been promoted and that our mid year posting may now be off and we'll be posted at the end of the year in the promotion posting cycle but we won't know where to until October. I've already looked into child care in Adelaide as we would have been arriving in 3 months time but now that that is in limbo, friends have started to tell me that I should be putting my daughters name down at a child care centre at each base that there is a possibility we could be going to. I had no problems with childcare here in Townsville and our daughter started the same day we first rang up and enquired about it. Is this going a bit overboard or should I start doing a ring around?

[tootiredtosleep]

Thats a tricky one. I had a spot secured and then we left on a compassionate posting.
I didn't really worry about childcare too much and just hoped that we would get lucky, and we did. I found 4 days at the new location.

i guess it wouldn't hurt to put your name down at each centre and then remove it once you know for sure where you will end up.

Maybe give ABC a call and see what they say. They offer priority to defence families.

[mumofjmc]

We are in the same situation in that we don't know where we are going until postings come out. I put my name down at all the defence childcare centres / corporate centres (ABC) and once posted, cancelled the spots I didn't need. Some centres are entirely defence (on bases with defence only placement) and others, such as ABC Salisbury North in ADL are corporate centres where Defence have have priority placement which means that if you need a spot and a civilian family are currently occupying it, they are given notice to vacate. I guess what I am saying is put your name down as there are still problems getting placement in some defence centres due to waiting / priority lists etc. Hope this helps.

[Olismum]

Hi, thanks for that. I'll get on to it this afternoon and start ringing around. We are currently in a defence priorty centre. I asked them and they just gave me a 1800 number to ring the defence hotline. Even though in the centre handbook it says that they will arrange a transfer on my behalf, it seems not all centres do this.

[Petal_339]

Hi - we moved to Adelaide in January and I was in the same boat - I rang around in October we we got the posting (and we came home from hospital) and put my name down at the ABC (defence) centres - however once we got our house it was nowhere near the centres ?! I found the FACSIA childcare hotline really helpful - they were able to tell me all the centres near my home and their availability - I ended up having my choice of about five centres - even in a busy period. Bottom line - defence priority is great - if you want to use their centres - and it's super convenient to where you are going to live - otherwise there are heaps of other centres with places that are excellent.

[Olismum]

I've already booked my daughter into both of the Adelaide defence priority centres. I am really lucky that both are only a short distance from where we plan to live if our posting goes ahead. I am originally from Adelaide so know the areas quite well. I did a ring around this afternoon but with my hubby's job there is about 7 different bases that we could potentially be posted to and the ABC centres now require a $20 deposit when you book to hold your spot. I'm going to wait until we find out whether or not they are definately cancelling our mid year posting before I start paying the deposits.

[mumofjmc]

I have my 2 at ABC Salisbury North and I couldn't be happier. Of the 3 Defence centres/corporate centres my kids have been to in the past, this one is so professional and new and the staff are all wonderful. Since I moved here in Jan this year, I have gotten to know the staff very well and it's great that the staff are always consistent. There haven't been days where I wonder "who is that person". The staff in the nurseries are awesome. FYI, Salary Sacrificing isn't available in SA yet. DCO in Canberra are trying to satisfy all the ATO's Fringe Benefits Tax requirements but there is no light at the end of the tunnel yet :no: .

[Olismum]

Hi, thanks so much for the info on the Salisbury North centre. Our posting is going ahead to Adelaide and we arrive in July. It's really great to hear that our daughter will be attending a great child care centre with good staff. We can't salary sacrifice our child care costs because we pay child support but it must make it hard for families who need that option. The defence child care centre that my daughter is in now up here in Townsville also doesn't offer salary sacrafice. I'm so glad you mentioned that the staff don't change much in the babies rooms. It's the one problem I have with our current centre is that often I normally only recognise 1 of the staff members in the babies room and the other is a temp or trainee brought in for only the day.

[mumofjmc]

At least childcare isn't something you need to now stress about. Take it from me, I am really fussy when it comes to my kids and I have very high expectations when it comes to their care. I definately love the staff at ABC SN. Don't get me wrong, when staff are sick/go on holidays they do get a temp in but 99% of the time it is the same lady so the kids know her and she is really nice.

Have you got a MQ yet?

[Olismum]

No, we can't look at Home find yet as they reckon it's too early and until they get our exact arrival date DHA don't know which housing clasification we fall into, lol. If we start looking at MQ's before the 1st of July we are in 1 category but if we start looking after the 1st of July we are in another category and the houses that they can show us will be totally different, lol. It's really ridiculous. We are hoping to buy out near Andrew's Farm but still need a MQ while we look around and decide between building and buying. Hubby will be at Edinburgh.

[mumofjmc]

Hubby is at Edinburgh also. When you get here, let me me know and we can arrange a meet up if you like. Good luck house hunting - I forgot all about the Housing restructure.

[Olismum]

That would be great, Thanks.