What is “In Home Care” (IHC)?

The objective of IHC is to provide high quality, flexible early childhood education and care options to families for whom other approved childcare options are not available or appropriate due to their unique circumstances.

IHC Support Agencies will match families to educators/services that are able to meet their needs and refer families to other support services as required. IHC Support Agencies will be the primary conduit between families and services, and will advocate for families. They will monitor care delivery by IHC services to ensure service offerings remain focussed primarily on education and care, and fee charging is appropriate.

Eligibility

The IHC program will provide access to Government subsidised child care in the family home and will be targeted to assist parents or carers who are unable to access other mainstream child care options.

The following criteria apply:

• Parents or carers who may be suitable for In Home Care must be eligible for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) – you can check this at my.gov.au
• Parents or carers are working non-standard or variable hours, outside normal child care service hours
• The family has challenging or complex needs, including where families are experiencing challenging situations, and other approved child care services are not able to meet the needs of the child or the family.
• Parents or carers are geographically isolated from other types of approved child care, particularly in rural or remote locations

IHC Support Agency

The following activities are outside the scope of IHC:

• Household chores
• Education and care provided by unqualified educators
• Support services not directly related to early childhood education and care, including parental support and disability support
• Multi-care (i.e. where care is provided for children from more than one family)
• Transport only (i.e. the session of care cannot be only for the purposes of transporting children)
• Any activities out of scope of CCS
• Allied health services
• Supervision of distance education and home schooling
• Respite
• Any other activities unrelated to early childhood education and care.

How to contact us:-

PHONE:-                              02 6162 5846 or 1800 940 906

EMAIL:-                                [email protected]

WEB:                                   www.ihcsupportagencyact.org.au

In regards to our process, once we receive a completed IHC Eligibility application form (https://www.education.gov.au/child-care-package/resources/home-care-eligibility-application-form).

A panel reviews the information to see if your situation is suitable to move forward.  We then complete a Family Management plan with more in-depth details.  This plan is then sent with your permission to the service provider to set up the service.

Our service providers in the ACT do not have educators sitting waiting for families to apply for IHC so there can be a wait in this process.

For information on CCS go to: childcaresubsidy.gov.au

Another great resource to look at is the Starting Blocks website (https://www.startingblocks.gov.au/) that has been put together to assist parents.

For more information, please visit

In Home Care Support Agency ACT – Early Childhood Education (ihcsupportagencyact.org.au)