Why join
What joining gives you.
One alliance for the people who live Family Day Care every day.
- A real voice in how Family Day Care is regulated
- Educators, managers, and families speaking as one
- Help when the regulator comes calling
- A network that backs learning through play, not sanitised centres
- Somewhere honest to talk about what Family Day Care actually is
How it works
Three voices. One alliance.
Educators bring practice
The people who care for children in their homes, every day.
Managers bring the service
Approved providers and the people with management control.
Families make it credible
A regulator can dismiss an industry group. It is harder to dismiss parents who still stand with Family Day Care.
Join any category and all three get louder. That is the point.
Why we exist
Two jobs. One alliance.
Family Day Care is home-based early childhood education and care under Australia’s National Early Years Learning Framework. Children learn in small groups, in a family and community setting, with an educator who knows them. That continuity is not a by-product. It is the point.
In Victoria, regulatory pressure is pushing services toward sanitised, centre-like environments. Early learning cannot be risk-free, and should not be. Children need developmentally appropriate risk to navigate the real world. Wrap them in cotton wool and the cost shows up later.
The Alliance exists for two reasons. First, to protect and promote what is unique about Family Day Care: learning through play and connection, in home and community. Second, to advocate through evidence-based engagement with regulators, experts, and the people who live this work every day.
Industry Snapshot
Family Day Care in Victoria, in numbers.
Victoria has more children in Family Day Care than any other state or territory in Australia, and Family Day Care makes up a bigger share of Victoria's own child care mix than in New South Wales or Queensland. Figures are Child Care Subsidy administrative data and state regulator registers, December quarter 2025.
20,720
children in Victorian Family Day Care, the most of any state, just ahead of NSW (20,410)
5.8%
of all Victorian child care enrolments are Family Day Care, higher than NSW (4.5%) or QLD (4.3%)
~5,930
approved educator places across 110 Family Day Care providers in Victoria
Victoria carries more than its share of the nation's Family Day Care
Share of Australia's total child care enrolments
24.9%
Share of Australia's Family Day Care children
30.8%
Compare states and territories
Source: state/territory education and care services registers and Australian Government Child Care Subsidy (CCS) administrative data, December quarter 2025. Educator-place totals are estimated for services that don't publicly disclose a cap. Treat as an indicative scale, not an exact count.
Founding members
1 founding member and counting.
Be one of the first Educators
1
of the first Managers
Be one of the first Parents and Friends
Demographic snapshot
Who is in the Alliance
Counts below are live membership numbers. Richer graphs (age, state, language) appear here as members complete the join form.
Educators
Managers
Parents and Friends
Membership
Choose who you are, then join.
Parents and Friends is free. Educators and Managers are statutory members of the company.
Start here · free · two minutes
Parents and Friends
Free. No approval process. Two minutes. Because every parent who joins makes the other two memberships louder.
$2 per week
Family Day Care Educators
Practice, advocacy and a professional network — $2 per week.
$10 per week
Family Day Care Managers
Coordination, compliance and a managers’ room — $10 per week.