What is a Family Day Care Coordination Unit?

A Family Day Care Coordination Unit (often called a coordination scheme) is the supervisory body responsible for recruiting, registering, and monitoring family day care educators who deliver childcare from their own homes. Unlike center-based facilities, family day care operates in a domestic setting, so a coordination unit acts as the bridge between individual educators and regulatory requirements.

These units handle essential tasks including verifying educator qualifications and working with children checks, ensuring compliance with the National Quality Framework and state regulations, conducting regular home visits and quality assessments, and providing professional development and mentoring support. Coordination units also manage parent complaints, maintain records, and help coordinate relief educators when primary carers are unavailable.

In Perth Metropolitan, families seeking formal childcare often use a coordination unit to locate approved family day care educators, since the unit maintains the register of accredited providers. This structure allows educators to operate flexibly from home while families have confidence in quality standards and regulatory oversight. Coordination units are typically accredited themselves and may be operated by community organizations, early learning groups, or private providers.

For parents and carers looking for family day care options, working through a coordination unit ensures the educator meets qualification and registration standards. You can browse family day care providers in your area through registered coordination units.