The news comes as West Wimmera Shire councillors deliberate on whether to include funding for a child day care centre feasibility study in the shire's 2021 - 22 budget.

A group of Edenhope parents spearheaded the movement to have a childcare centre in Edenhope, with two mothers, Alyssa Jacobson and Shelley Hartle, putting forward a submission to council as part of the draft budget's public consultation stage.

The submission proposed a $50,000 feasibility study of childcare in the Edenhope district.

West Wimmera Shire mayor Bruce Meyer said the council would decide whether or not to fund the study at a special meeting next week, and was looking for other flexible child day care arrangements.

READ MORE:

"The issue really isn't whether child care is needed or not, that is well known, there seems to be a number of families in that area that need access to childcare, and that need is very difficult to meet at the moment," he said.

"The debate is not about whether child care is needed, we know that, it is a matter of how you are going to do it. The shire is not the provider, Uniting is the provider, and they have the licenses.

"That type of long day care is highly regulated, you can only provide one person to a ratio of four. We have got to try and find a way to meet the need that is out there to make it more flexible."

Edenhope's only aged care provider was recruited by Uniting Wimmera, who provide family day care services across the region.

Uniting Vic.Tas north and west Victoria general manager Annette Kelly-Egerton said while the announcement was unfortunate for parents in Edenhope, the group was looking to recruit another day car provider for the area.

OTHER NEWS:

"Unfortunately, the family day care educator in Edenhope has decided to no longer continue with this service," she said.

"We were notified of this decision yesterday and we immediately worked to personally speak with all affected families to inform them of this decision. While disappointed, most families understood we have been working hard to recruit more family day care educators to the region.

"We want to assure both the affected families and the broader community that we're working as hard as we can to attract more family day care educators.

"This is not only for Edenhope, but right across the Wimmera. Recruiting qualified early learning staff is an ongoing issue in many communities in the Wimmera, but we need the community to partner with us to address these challenges.

"New family day care providers can be set up and operating in as short a time as six to eight weeks. It's by far the quickest way to provide childcare to a community."

Ms Kelly-Egerton said Uniting Wimmera were looking for anyone qualified to replace the previous provider.

"We have been working closely with key local employers, including the council and hospital, to help us recruit more family day carers to the region," she said.

"We're asking locals who have the necessary qualifications and are interested in a career in childcare to get in contact with us.

"This is a perfect opportunity for people with the right skills and who want to pursue a career in childcare to give back and provide a valuable contribution to their community."

Ms Hartle said there were talks of staging a protest at a special council meeting for the budget, but it was unable to occur as a result of Victoria's lockdown.

She, like many other parents in west Wimmera, had struggled to find care for her children and juggle work responsibilities.

"That is what led us to see what we could achieve as community members as opposed to the hospital, or Uniting," she said.

"The advice we got was to put in a funding submission because that time was coming and as we all know you won't really get much out of local council unless it is in their budget. So we thought let's put it in their budget and get it funded.

"The most information I have received from the council is that it is possibly going to be hard to include such a large amount in the budget at such a late stage. But that is about as close as I have come to any formal update."

Ms Hartle is a mother of two daughters and is currently on maternity leave from her role as executive assistance and business services manager at Edenhope hospital.

She said the lack of long day child care in the town had an impact on her work life.

"It is a huge impact. I am pretty lucky, my work would allow me to work from home at a pinch if I had to. I think COVID has shown us all it is impossible to work from home and be productive with kids," she said.

"The times I do it I don't achieve much. I have a relatively senior role - I support the board of directors and the CEO as well as handle a few staff. So me not being there has a direct impact on the business as a whole as well.

"If need be my partner stays home, he is trying to start up a small handyman business here in Edenhope and the impact if he is unable to attend a job is huge as well. Especially when you are just starting out."

MORE NEWS:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: