Role of grandparents in spotlight after Bangor childcare centre mix-up
A grandparent picked up the wrong child from the First Steps centre in Bangor. (ABC News: Liam Patrick)
The role of grandparental care has come under scrutiny after a grandfather in Sydney's south accidentally picked up the wrong child at a day care centre last week.
First Steps Learning Centre in Bangor handed the wrong child to the man during pick-up, who returned the toddler two hours later after realising the mistake.
An investigation has been launched, and the childcare centre apologised to the parents.
The mother of the missing one-year-old boy described the centre as "incompetent" and said it was not the first safety incident involving her son.
Meanwhile, there have been three separate investigations by the regulator into First Steps Learning Academy centres.
The NSW Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority said an investigation into the incident was underway.
While grandparents can be vital to support new parents, for some, the increasing role in their grandchildren's upbringing can come at a cost.
Grandparents major part of child care mix
Gohar Yazdabadi's parents have helped look after her children. (Supplied)
Gohar Yazdabadi is the chief executive officer of the NSW branch of the Council on the Ageing, the peak body representing the rights and interests of people over 50.
Many of its members are also grandparents or carers.
Ms Yazdabadi is a mother to two children and relies on her own parents to help in their care.
"I was really lucky to have my parents involved in my children's care," she said.
"I was able to not send my children to day care until they were aged two.
"It gave me a lot of flexibility in being able to get back to work faster as I had my parents to lean on."
Ms Yazdabadi's mother with one of her children. (Supplied)
Ms Yazdabadi said grandparents were critical to working parents.
"For many Australian families, child care starts with the grandparents.
"Around 40 per cent of grandparents provide regular care, but when the grandkids are under 10, that rises to 63 per cent.
"Child care at the moment is costing somewhere between $150 to $200 a day in Sydney, so grandparents play a key role."
Ms Yazdabadi said grandparental care was something that was safe in the vast majority of cases.
"Grandparents love spending time with grandkids; grandkids love spending time with grandparents, so there are mutual benefits there."
However, she said for some grandparents, there was increasing pressure to step up.
"It is a role that is usually unpaid and with their own rising cost of living and greater pressures, it is challenging for some grandparents as well."
Pressure cooker of a system
Professor of sociology and social policy at the University of Melbourne Lyn Craig said grandparents were increasingly being used as carers.
"It does seem to be related to cost-of-living pressures, especially as housing costs have become very demanding on households,"she said.
Professor Craig said expenses like mortgages are seeing more women return to full-time work earlier than they used to in Australia.
She said the nature of child care had also changed, becoming more demanding on older Australians.
Professor Craig says cost-of-living pressures are having an impact on child care. (University of Melbourne)
"It is a very different thing for grandparents to be providing regular weekly day care compared to occasional babysitting and looking after them when the parents needed a break on the weekend.
"Grandparents are being called on more frequently."
Added to the mix is the changing nature of work in Australia, with many parents in shift or casual work.
Megan Blaxland is a senior research fellow at the University of New South Wales's Social Policy Research Centre and has looked at the role of grandparental care, especially in the retail sector.
She said many of these workers were starting early or finishing late.
"Retail and other sectors are extremely unpredictable, so you might unexpectedly get called in to work or you might have a sick child.
"Grandparents are incredibly accommodating in those kinds of circumstances and will step in and help out."
Dr Blaxland said flexibility was needed for many working parents.
"Without grandparents, parents would really struggle to find any kind of care for their children because the formal system cannot be that flexible as it needs predictability," she said.
Physically taxing
Professor Craig said her research had shown the care of grandchildren could become "burdensome" as people got older.
"People say they get very tired and a lot of grandparents who have several children might be doing this sort of care for multiple families,"she said.
She said studies showed grandmothers were doing the bulk of care.
"That is not to say grandfathers do not do it, but the grandmother is usually the go-to grandparent," Professor Craig said.
"We know from our research that grandfathers often join in or help or do delegated tasks.
"Transporting the children is quite a common delegated task, while the grandmother is doing the hands-on physical care of the child."
An educator from the centre in Bangor has been stood down, after the child was missing for two hours. (ABC News: Liam Patrick)
The union representing many childcare workers is the United Workers Union.
The union's early education director, Carolyn Smith said she was not in a position to comment on any underlying factors in the Bangor incident.
"However, United Workers Union has consistently said understaffing in the sector is a fundamental safety issue that needs to be addressed in any reforms to the sector," she said.