About Us

Alice Springs Fam­i­ly Day Care acknowl­edges that we walk on the lands of the Arrernte peo­ple and rec­og­nize our part with­in the close-knit, unique and diverse com­mu­ni­ty of Alice Springs.


We val­ue the cul­tur­al diver­si­ty of our desert town and under­stand the sig­nif­i­cance of our shared expe­ri­ences with­in the his­to­ry of Cen­tral Australia.


Our dedicated and passionate, regulatory approved Educators provide care for children from young infants through to 13 years. Care is offered during standard hours, before/after school, school holidays, overnight and weekends. Educator environments are checked, approved and compliant with the National Regulations. Educators are monitored by our knowledgeable, passionate, innovative and highly experienced coordination unit who conducts regular visits to their homes.

Our Philosophy

We believe that each fam­i­ly, Edu­ca­tor and staff mem­ber bring a wealth of knowl­edge and life-

expe­ri­ence to the fabric of Fam­i­ly Day Care and wel­come and sup­port this diver­si­ty as the build­ing blocks of our community.

Alice Springs Family Day Care view fam­i­lies as their child’s first teacher and respect

indi­vid­ual prac­tices and diverse per­spec­tives. We val­ue the voice of chil­dren, fam­i­lies,

edu­ca­tors and staff and act to pro­mote strong col­lab­o­ra­tive part­ner­ships based on mutu­al respect, sup­port and com­mu­ni­ca­tion in order to gain the best out­comes for the child.

We believe we play a key part in strength­en­ing the lives of chil­dren and help them become hap­py, con­fi­dent peo­ple with a love of life­long learn­ing as well as pos­sess­ing valu­able life skills. Through our work, we aim for chil­dren to have a strong sense of health and well-being.

Alice Springs Fam­i­ly Day Care will be unit­ed as a com­mu­ni­ty of cul­tur­al­ly diverse learn­ers, chil­dren, fam­i­lies and pro­fes­sion­als, who pro­vide high­est qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion and care in Alice Springs and advo­cate for qual­i­ty ear­ly child­hood education.

Why Family Day Care?


Alice Springs Family Day Care is a natural choice for high quality nurturing childcare and education. We are the original Family Day Care Scheme in Alice Springs, operating since 1979.


We adhere to the Education and Care Services National Regulations and Law, National Quality Standards and the Early Years Learning Framework. ASFDC complies with rating and assessment through the Department of Education, NT Government.


Ratios per Educator: maximum of 4 children under the age of 5 and 3 children over the age of 5. We match Educators to children and families. We offer weekly play sessions at interesting and various locations. Families are welcome to attend these.


Family Day Care offers:


  • The one primary care giver
  • Consistency of care
  • Natural home environments
  • Small groups
  • A sense of community
  • Child Safe environments

Family Day Care Australia

Fam­i­ly Day Care Aus­tralia is a nation­al peak body which sup­ports, enhances and pro­vides resources for fam­i­ly day care ser­vices. Their roles are to resource and pro­mote fam­i­ly day care ser­vices in Aus­tralia and work with the Gov­ern­ment to ensure the strength and con­tin­ued growth of the sec­tor in Aus­tralia. As are ASFDC,

they are a mem­ber-based not for prof­it

organ­i­sa­tion that works on behalf of our members and provide the following:


  • infor­ma­tion, pol­i­cy advice and advocacy
  • Pro­motes Fam­i­ly Day Care as a qual­i­ty childcare choice and career option
  • Offers an exten­sive range of prod­ucts and

       ser­vices to our member

Our Mission

To rep­re­sent, sup­port and pro­mote the fam­i­ly day care sec­tor in deliv­er­ing high-qual­i­ty ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion and care to more Aus­tralian children.

Our Values

Code of Conduct

  • Working Children

    • UNDER NO CIR­CUM­STANCES – ignore or dis­re­gard sus­pect­ed or dis­closed abuse by noti­fy­ing any rea­son­able belief to the reg­u­la­to­ry authority 
    • UNDER NO CIR­CUM­STANCES — will a child be smacked, phys­i­cal­ly restrained or degraded 
    • UNDER NO CIR­CUM­STANCES — will a child be made to feel scared, humil­i­at­ed or iso­lat­ed (includ­ing time out) as a behav­iour­al man­age­ment strategy 
    • UNDER NO CIR­CUM­STANCES – fal­si­fy records and documentation 
    • UNDER NO CIR­CUM­STANCES – pro­vide false or mis­lead­ing information 
    • Ensure the envi­ron­ment is safe at all times
    • Not dis­crim­i­nate against a child or their fam­i­ly due to race, reli­gious beliefs, sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion, job or disability 
    • Regard chil­dren equal­ly with respect and dig­ni­ty, encour­age children’s efforts, show empa­thy if they are hurt, sad, angry, jeal­ous etc.
    • Respect the con­fi­den­tial nature of infor­ma­tion gained, or observed while par­tic­i­pat­ing or attend­ing the program 
    • Not engage in on-line rela­tion­ships with chil­dren out­side of the fam­i­ly day care ser­vice with­out the explic­it con­sent, knowl­edge and writ­ten approval of the fam­i­ly and approved provider — includ­ing elec­tron­ic such as social media.
    • Inform chil­dren if phys­i­cal con­tact from you is required (self-help, hygiene, first aid) seek per­mis­sion, under­stand­ing each child’s non-ver­bal abilities 
    • Speak to chil­dren respectfully 
    • Always speak in an encour­ag­ing and pos­i­tive man­ner, get down to the child’s lev­el as often as pos­si­ble, lis­ten (to their opin­ions, views, ideas and sug­ges­tions) and answer accord­ing­ly to extend their knowl­edge and under­stand­ing and make them feel respect­ed, wel­comed and appreciated
    • Engage with non-ver­bal children’s body lan­guage — make them feel under­stood (point­ing, laugh­ing, grunt­ing, smil­ing) respond accordingly 
    • Seek children’s input and sug­ges­tions into the pro­gram and what they would like, accom­mo­date where appro­pri­ate – explain to chil­dren if not appro­pri­ate – why it is not possible 
    • Under­take pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment at least 4x annu­al­ly to ensure cur­ren­cy of skills and knowledge 
    • Nev­er be affect­ed by drugs or alco­hol whilst chil­dren are being edu­cat­ed and cared for 
    • Respect children’s right for privacy 
    • Be a pos­i­tive role mod­el at all times 

  • In Relation to Colleagues

    • Build col­lab­o­ra­tive rela­tion­ships based on respect, sup­port and honesty. 
    • Acknowl­edge, wel­come and sup­port indi­vid­ual strengths, expe­ri­ences and diversity.
    • Col­lab­o­rate in order to share and build on indi­vid­ual knowl­edge, resources and ideas.
    • Act eth­i­cal­ly and respectfully
    • Main­tain pro­fes­sion­al­ism and con­fi­den­tial­i­ty in line with the scheme’s poli­cies, pro­ce­dures and legislation.

  • Adults & Families

    • UNDER NO CIR­CUM­STANCES should a child, parent/​guardian or mem­ber of staff be approached direct­ly in a con­fronta­tion­al man­ner — raised voic­es or aggres­sive ver­bal or body lan­guage is not accept­able in an edu­ca­tion and care service
    • UNDER NO CIR­CUM­STANCES should a par­ent raise an issue with anoth­er par­ent, they should seek guid­ance from the edu­ca­tor or imple­ment the griev­ance pro­ce­dure with the sup­port of the approved provider 
    • Approved Provider will con­sid­er edu­ca­tors his­to­ry of com­pli­ance with the Nation­al Law and oth­er rel­e­vant laws, any deci­sion under the law to refuse, sus­pend, refuse to renew, or can­cel a licence, approval, reg­is­tra­tion, cer­ti­fi­ca­tion or oth­er autho­ri­sa­tion grant­ed to the per­son under the Nation­al Law and oth­er rel­e­vant laws) this relates to any find­ings of fraud or dis­hon­est behav­iours. Edu­ca­tors will not be reg­is­tered if there are find­ings of non-compliance 
    • Edu­ca­tors will ensure; edu­ca­tor assis­tants, stu­dents, vol­un­teers and house guests are informed and sign agree­ment to adhere to the behav­iours out­lined in the Code of con­duct pol­i­cy and pro­ce­dures V11.01.2020 to remain on file 
    • Assist fam­i­lies to bet­ter under­stand ear­ly child­hood devel­op­ment and the edu­ca­tion and care frame­work includ­ing Prac­tice Prin­ci­ples and Learn­ing Outcomes 
    • Always use cour­te­ous, respect­ful and encour­ag­ing ver­bal and non-ver­bal communication 
    • Respect the rights of oth­ers as indi­vid­u­als and their opin­ions and choices
    • Refrain from the use of pro­fane, insult­ing, harass­ing, aggres­sive or oth­er­wise offen­sive language
    • At all times remain pro­fes­sion­al and refrain from pub­lic crit­i­cism about any stake­hold­er or the ser­vice. If an issue occurs seek to debrief with your imme­di­ate super­vi­sor or imple­ment the griev­ance procedure
    • Be aware of rou­tines and guide­lines for chil­dren with­in the ser­vice (hand wash­ing, sun­screen, risky play etc.) seek advice and guid­ance from the edu­ca­tor (or per­son respon­si­ble for the program)
    • Give encour­ag­ing and con­struc­tive feed­back rather than neg­a­tive criticism
    • Man­ag­ing and guid­ing children’s behav­iour is the respon­si­bil­i­ty of allo­cat­ed edu­ca­tors, mat­ters or con­cerns relat­ed to children’s behav­iour should be referred direct­ly to the edu­ca­tor and con­cerns relat­ing to the educator’s man­age­ment of chil­dren should be raised imme­di­ate­ly with the approved provider or nom­i­nat­ed supervisor
    • Smok­ing is pro­hib­it­ed on the service’s prop­er­ty at all times chil­dren are being cared and edu­cat­ed (this includes approved res­i­dences out­door and indoor spaces)
    • Smok­ing indoors at the home is pro­hib­it­ed at ALL times you are reg­is­tered with an approved edu­ca­tion and care service
    • The home will remain alco­hol and drug free whilst chil­dren are being cared for and educated
    • Take rea­son­able steps to ensure that each edu­ca­tor main­tains ade­quate knowl­edge and under­stand­ing of the pro­vi­sion of edu­ca­tion and care to children
    • Avoid approach­ing the edu­ca­tor to dis­cuss a child whilst oth­er chil­dren are in atten­dance. Seek an alter­na­tive time and make an appoint­ment for a time when the edu­ca­tor is free from super­vi­so­ry duties.
    • Be aware of emer­gency evac­u­a­tion pro­ce­dures, fol­low direc­tions if implemented.
    • Recog­nise that fam­i­lies are a child’s first teacher.
    • Devel­op part­ner­ships with fam­i­lies based on hon­esty, sup­port and respect.
    • Respect and sup­port cul­tur­al prac­tices and indi­vid­ual par­ent­ing choices.
    • Main­tain con­fi­den­tial­i­ty and fam­i­lies’ right to privacy.
    • Main­tain professionalism.

  • General Information

    • This code of con­duct will be ver­bal­ly com­mu­ni­cat­ed dur­ing induc­tion and orientation 
    • Edu­ca­tors are required to noti­fy approved provider of: a seri­ous inci­dent, any com­plaint alleg­ing a seri­ous inci­dent has occurred or is occur­ring at the ser­vice, any com­plaint alleg­ing the Nation­al Law or Nation­al Reg­u­la­tions or Fam­i­ly Assis­tance Leg­is­la­tion have been con­tra­vened; or is being con­tra­vened; any new per­son aged 18 and over resid­ing at the res­i­dence; any cir­cum­stance that may affect whether a per­son resid­ing at the home con­tin­ues to be fit and prop­er to be in the com­pa­ny of chil­dren; any ren­o­va­tions or oth­er changes to the fam­i­ly day care home that cre­ate a seri­ous risk to the health, safe­ty and well­be­ing or chil­dren attend­ing or like­ly to attend
    • The approved provider will noti­fy the Qual­i­ty Edu­ca­tion and Care (QEC­NT) if a seri­ous inci­dent includ­ing the death of a child; a child can­not be locat­ed; or has left the ser­vice with an unau­tho­rised per­son; a child requires med­ical atten­tion or any require­ments in accor­dance with the Edu­ca­tion and Care Ser­vices Nation­al Law 2010 and Edu­ca­tion and Care Ser­vices Nation­al Reg­u­la­tions 2011 and the Fam­i­ly Assis­tance Law 1999
    • The ser­vice will wel­come the reg­u­la­to­ry author­i­ty and respond to requests for fur­ther infor­ma­tion or respons­es with­in the allo­cat­ed timeframes 
    • Edu­ca­tors will ensure they are ful­ly informed of their oblig­a­tions to ensure leg­is­la­tion is adhered to at all times by par­tic­i­pat­ing in induc­tion and oth­er train­ing pro­grams as well as read­ing of reg­u­lar newslet­ters and sub­scrip­tions cir­cu­lat­ed by the service 

Our Family Day Care Educators

Michelle Allen

Ishrat Akifa

Katrina Sessions

Eta Tinaikulabu

Rebecca Watson

Kathleen Logue

Atleshni Datt

Hayley Parker

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