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It is perfectly okay to make your own arrangements for the care of your child. 

Government regulated and licensed early childhood services are one option and there are many informal options open to you too.   

With personal arrangements you will:

1. Have control - you'll have total say over who cares for your child, how they care for your child, and when (you set the hours and days).
2. Pay the person who cares for your child directly, not through a third party.
3. Not be costing other taxpayers as only regulated services receive government funding. At most you may be able to claim some back some tax paid for the cost of childcare/housekeeper.
4. Be able to negotiate with the person caring for your child what the cost will be and how this is to be paid.
5. Be more likely to achieve a care arrangement that is closely integrated with your family life and supports your family culture.  

Learn more about informal arrangements for childcare by clicking here to watch a short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbxOizNT2pY

What Kind of Parent are You Likely to Be to Make Your Own Arrangements?

1. One who knows other parents with young children wanting to share childcare costs (share a private nanny) or willing to reciprocate with childcare

2. A parent who wants the person who cares for their child not to be determined by someone else (a provider of an early childhood service)

3. A person who is not keen to provide an open-home to whom ever is employed at the time as a coordinator of the home-based service or to any Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, and Education Review officials.

4. Someone who works from home or who works odd hours and seeks childcare arrangements that are not rigid in hours.

5. In the case of welcoming a foreign au pair into your home, you are likely to be someone interested in other languages or cultures or wanting your child to develop cultural awareness.

5. Someone who wants where possible for their child to be with them and doing other activities such as playing at a friend's house, rather than left in childcare. 

What Children Will Family-Based Solutions for Childcare Suit?

It is likely to suit any child.  Especially:

• children who are being breastfed
• who share their parent with older siblings and thus enjoy the one-on-one time and personal arrangements when their older brothers and sisters are at school
• children who have got sick more than a couple of times within the first month of starting at an early childhood service or for whom parents have found to receive little adult attention. 
• children who need more intellectual stimulation than the early childhood service can provide and will benefit from doing more activities in the community with their parent or the family nanny, doing things on a regular basis with another family well-known to their family, or going to their parents' work.

Problems and Difficulties You May, or May Not, Encounter

The place where the parent works might not be child-friendly.

The parent may find it harder to get the required work done in the hours available if their child is nearby and may need to take work home.

The description of the au pair you received before the au pair arrived in New Zealand may not be exactly what you find the au pair to be like - be sure not to agree to keep the au pair for more than two weeks if expectations are not met. 

If you employ a nanny yourself you will need to take care of all employment matters including tax and be a good employer.

The shared child-care arrangement you have with another family may change if the at-home parent in the other family decides to return to work full-time. 

The Popularity of Personal Arrangements

There is no data on this.  But what we do know is that most families at some time do make personal childcare arrangements, and may combine personal arrangements e.g. grandmother care for two days a week, with using a regulated service e.g.  kindergarten care for three days a week.    

How to Find These

Within your extended family and social network you may identify people with young children, who are looking for work, or who have retired and how you think would make an excellent child career for your child to be with.

You might purposefully send your CV to workplaces that are child-friendly, or decide to work from home so you can have your child with you.

Check the notice-boards at local supermarkets, at the Plunket Nurse office, and at places where parents gather for anyone advertising to care for young children or place your own notice.  Often finding a suitable person comes through word-of-mouth or through talking with someone who knows someone who knows someone else.

Online Sources for More Information

International Labour Organisation paper on combining work and family

A website that shows the popularity of foreign Au Pair's or Nannies for New Zealand families

Have you considered working from home caring for children?  Legally you can care for 2 children other than your own without registering with the Ministry of Education to be licensed.  If you care for 3 or more you need to get a licence to run a centre from your home.  Or you can have up to 4 children if you register with a home-based agency who will collect government funding in return for providing you with supervision and support and parents will either pay you directly or pay the agency who will then reimburse you.   Read more about caring for other people's children in your home ...