Family day care vs a long day care centre: how to choose

Family day care and long day care both offer regulated, full-day child care in Perth, but the setting and feel are genuinely different. Neither is objectively better; the right choice depends on what your child and your family need.

What actually differs

A long day care centre operates from a purpose-built facility, with multiple rooms grouped by age, a larger staff team, and a set daily program. Family day care happens in an educator’s own home, with a small, mixed-age group of children under the direct care of one qualified educator, operating under an approved family day care service that recruits and oversees them.

	Family day care	Long day care centre
Setting	Educator’s home	Purpose-built centre
Group size	Small, mixed ages	Larger, grouped by age
Consistency of carer	Same educator most days	Rotates across a staff roster
Facilities	Home-based, varies by educator	Dedicated play areas, often larger outdoor space
Typical cost	Generally lower	Generally higher

Why families choose family day care

A smaller, home-like setting suits children who settle better in a quiet, familiar environment than a larger group. Because your child sees the same educator most days rather than a rotating roster, some families feel this builds a closer, more consistent bond, particularly useful for infants and toddlers still adjusting to being away from a parent. Mixed-age groups also mean siblings can often stay together rather than being split into separate age-based rooms.

Why families choose a long day care centre

A centre offers more structure, a bigger facility, and often broader resources: dedicated outdoor play areas, a kitchen preparing meals for the whole centre, and a wider range of equipment and activities than a single home can typically match. If a staff member is away sick, a centre has a larger team to draw on, which some families find more reassuring than a single-educator model. Centres also tend to offer a clearer path into an in-house kindergarten program as your child approaches school age.

What to check with either option

• Current registration and approval status with the relevant family day care service or the centre’s approved provider.
• Staff-to-child or educator-to-child ratios for your child’s specific age group.
• What happens on a sick day: is there backup care, and how is it arranged?
• How settling-in visits work before your child’s first full day.
• What is included in the daily fee versus charged separately.

Making the call

If your child is anxious in large groups, or you want the same familiar face most days, family day care is worth prioritising in your search. If you want a bigger facility, more built-in backup if a carer is away, and a clear path into an in-house kindergarten program, a centre may suit better. Many families also make the decision on logistics: which option is closer to home or work, and which has an opening when you need it.

Siblings and mixed ages

If you have more than one child under school age, family day care’s mixed-age setting can be a genuine advantage: siblings often stay in the same room with the same educator rather than being split across separate age-based rooms in a centre. This can simplify drop-off and pick-up to one conversation with one educator, rather than checking in at two or three different rooms. Some families weigh this heavily enough on its own to choose family day care even when a centre would otherwise be their first pick.

What happens as your child grows

Family day care generally suits infants and toddlers particularly well, given the small group and close one-on-one attention. As children approach kindergarten age, some families move them into a centre with a structured kindergarten program, either because they want a bigger peer group before school or because their family day care educator does not offer that specific program. This is not a sign the family day care choice was wrong; it is simply a natural point where needs shift as a child gets older. If this is likely to matter to you, ask a prospective family day care educator directly what happens as your child approaches school age, and whether they support a transition into a centre-based kindergarten program when the time comes.

Compare specific providers in the family day care category once you have a sense of which setting fits, and read our methodology for how those rankings are calculated.