Harris, Nonie, and Tinning, Beth (2011) Touching the earth: the challenge of providing culturally appropriate child care services in a landscape where profits are the priority. In: [Presented at 11th International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations]. From: 11th International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, 20-22 June, 2011, Cape Town, South Africa.

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Abstract

The last decade saw the rise and collapse of Australia's largest for-profit child care provider. Government policy makers assumed that the for-profit sector would ensure a 'market' that provided a wider range of child care choice, and increased opportunities for accessing quality long day care. However, in the rural and regional areas of Australia, the idea of 'choice' is necessarily limited by what is available within a practical distance.

This paper presents qualitative data gathered from Indigenous parents in northern regional Australia, interviewed as part of two research studies in 2007 and 2009/10. Parents spoke of their search for quality long day care in a complex and rapidly changing child care landscape. The role child care played in Indigenous parents' lives went far beyond an educational tool or child minding service. Quality child care potentially offered the hub of 'community' that many families sought, particularly in communities characterised by distance from friends and family, fluctuating economic growth and limited services for those outside the mainstream. However, for the Indigenous parents in this study governments' reliance on the 'market' served only to increase their alienation from a valuable service and to emphasise the market's insensitivity to the needs of a diverse community.

This research draws on the voices of Indigenous parents to explore the complex interplay between child care policy, conceptions of diversity and community, and ideas of choice, quality and the implications of government reliance on market mechanisms.

Item ID:	21606
Item Type:	Conference Item (Non-Refereed Research Paper)
Funders:	Ian Potter Foundation (IPF)
Projects and Grants:	IPF Community Wellbeing Grant
Research Data:	http://2011.ondiversity.com/
Date Deposited:	04 May 2017 02:28
FoR Codes:	16 STUDIES IN HUMAN SOCIETY > 1607 Social Work > 160703 Social Program Evaluation @ 100%
SEO Codes:	94 LAW, POLITICS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES > 9499 Other Law, Politics and Community Services > 949999 Law, Politics and Community Services not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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