Early childhood centres and home-based care providers in Marlborough say parents who want to enrol their under-2s in child care in Blenheim are not facing waiting lists to get their children into fulltime care.
Kindergartens and day care centres in Wellington are reporting waiting lists of more than a year. One child care centre said one mother asked to put her name on the list before her child had been born.
The situation has developed as mothers head back to work when children are younger.
Early childhood centres spoken to by the Express say their centres have vacancies for under-2s and believed more parents were using home-based childcare services such as Porse and Barnardos.
Blenheim's Little Footsteps co-owner Angela Fitzpatrick said Marlborough does not have the "big money-spinning jobs" which would draw women back into the workforce earlier.
Most parents would be better off with Working for Families support, she said.
Beavertown Preschool and Early Learning Centre owner Carolyn Gregg said the centre had vacancies for under-2s, however some parents did book months ahead for the maximum 15 spaces at the centre.
More parents were choosing home-based childcare and were waiting until their children were three years old to take advantage of the 20 hours of free early childhood education at centres, she said.
Porse Marlborough programme tutor and consultant Heather Stirling said the demand for home-based care was growing based on the number of providers in the region.
"If you go by the amount of home-based providers opening up, in July 2008 it was just Barnardos, then Porse came along and now there are five or six other home-based providers."
There were no waiting lists for their service because the company was recruiting home educators all the time, she said. The company had 31 educators in Marlborough which catered for about 90 families and more than 100 children.
Educators run their own home-based care business and charge their own hourly rates and work their own hours so they can cater for part-time or fulltime care. The business model meant parents could be flexible about when they have their children in care.
SIMON WONG
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