Samantha Kloet has her hands full as a full-time working mother. Her job got even tougher when she was told in December that her childcare centre was closing.By Kath Gannaway
YARRA Glen parents have been left in the lurch after a shock announcement a week before Christmas that one of the town’s two childcare centres was closing.
The Neighbourhood Early Learning Centre which has links to the collapsed ABC Learning announced on Thursday 18 December that Yarra Glen was one of 14 of their centres which would close on 31 December.
The centre was previously owned by ABC. The owner of NELC is Frank Zullo, a former brother-in-law of ABC owner Eddy Groves.
The announcement came as a shock to parents, staff and the director, who the day before had celebrated their Christmas party and say they were unaware of any connections.
Sue Lines of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), the childcare workers’ union, said some of the centres were sub-leasing buildings from ABC.
Ms Lines criticised ABC receivers McGrathNicol for not disclosing the connection and providing a warning to the vulnerable NELC centres.
It is the grassroots users of the service who have been left out in the cold however.
Samantha Kloet has a new job in Yering and two children attending the centre.
She said, like the other parents, staff and even the director, she had no idea there was any connection or that the centre would end up suffering collateral damage.
“All we have been told is that it’s some legal issue that ABC didn’t sign over the rights to the building, that’s all we know,” she said.
“Even when the whole ABC issue was brought up and the list was printed our centre wasn’t mentioned so we all thought we were OK.
“We are all shocked,” she said.
Ms Kloet said the timing of the announcement made it impossible to organise alternative childcare, as other centres were closing for Christmas and New Year.
She said inquiries to date had indicated it would be very hard to get a place for the children nearby.
“If I have to go to Healesville or Chirnside Park it adds another half an hour onto my travelling time, and that impacts on the children,” she said.
Sophie Peterson is a police officer at Lilydale and a single mum whose two school-aged children go to before and after school care at NELC.
She said NELC was the only centre which catered for her shift work hours and which enabled her children to go to the local school.
“I drop the kids off at 6.30am some days and if I have to work overtime, I can ring the centre so they can go there after school,” she said. She also uses the centre for holiday care.
“I sat down to work out my roster this morning and I can’t tell my boss when I can work, or even if I can work or not,” said Ms Peterson who is a leading senior constable at Lilydale.
“With school, I can’t just take the kids to another centre,” she added.
While the closing date has now been extended to 19 January to comply with legal requirements to give 30 days notice of closure for childcare centres, Ms Kloet and Ms Peterson say they are at a loss to know what they can do.
A spokesperson for McGrathNicol would not comment on the lack of information or timing of the NELC announcement, stating only that the decision to close the centres was made by NELC.
NELC has also declined to comment.
