Breathing Space with Gecko - Holistic Family Support

In-home care has been left out. Again.

This article shows how dire our position is, and how little the government supports this essential service.

We don’t want to have to raise our fees, it’s not fair to anyone.

Since 2018, provider number have gone from 68 to 23. That is for the whole country. 23 providers to cater every family who requires in-home care. The waitlists are just getting longer. The providers are burnt out.

How much more noise do we have to make before we are heard and action is taken?

Especially with childcare centres having this feedback… ‘More concerns have been raised about safety at childcare centres, with three quarters of workers telling a survey their place of work was operating below minimum staffing levels at least weekly.’

Excerpts from the article regarding in-home care point out just how much these families miss out.

“Shouldn't we all be equal?
Whether you live in the city or the bush or metropolitan areas?"

"Children deserve to be with their urban counterparts and deserve equality. I can't believe that in 2026, we have to advocate for equality for children."

'Potentially catastrophic': Parents warn of safety risk without in-home child care In-home care provides services to about 1,000 families, but its viability is under threat because it is excluded from a government payment covering rising worker costs.

Cuddles Childcare Centre Byford Pty Ltd penalised for inadequate supervision and failure to protect a child from a hazard likely to cause injury

Cuddles Childcare Centre Byford Pty Ltd penalised for inadequate supervision and failure to protect a child from a hazard likely to cause injury The approved provider, Cuddles Childcare Centre Byford Pty Ltd, which operates the service, Cuddles Early Learning and Childcare Byford, was ordered to pay a penalty of $50,000.

URGENT PRODUCT RECALL

Issued by: ECRU Sector Support
14 November 2025

Asbestos in coloured sand product

A product recall statement has been issued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for coloured sand products that may contain asbestos, which is a prohibited substance in Australia.

The Department of Communities WA is taking immediate precautionary action, while ECRU establish the extent and risk of the potentially contaminated product.

The product is sold by Educational Colours Pty Ltd and the recall notice includes the following products:

Educational Colours - Rainbow Sand (1.3kg),
Creatistics - Coloured Sand (1kg) and
Kadink - Sand (1.3kg)

The products may cause a risk to health as tremolite asbestos (a naturally occurring asbestos) has been detected in some samples after laboratory testing.

Importantly, respiratory asbestos has not been detected in any of the tested samples. The release of respiratory asbestos fibres from the sand is unlikely to occur in its current state, unless the sand is processed by mechanical means such as crushing or pulverising.

While the risk that any asbestos found is likely to be airborne or fine enough for inhalation is low, this may still pose a risk.

Immediate actions:
- Services should stop using this product immediately.
- If the sand is in a container, place the container in a heavy-duty plastic bag and double tape it securely, label it and keep it in a secure place out of reach of children. Gloves and mask may be worn as a precaution.
- Do not dispose of the product in general waste.
- Services that are in possession of these products are required to submit a notification through the NQA-ITS
- You may wish to share the following interim statement with your parents and other third-party users of your facilities.
- You may be aware of reports of a product safety recall issues by the ACCC related to coloured sand that may contain asbestos. Please be assured that we have taken the measures outlined in the Product Safety Recall.

ECRU are working closely with the Department of Health and will provide any necessary updates.

The Department has stood up an Incident Support Team to track and respond to this issue.

Contact details:

Supplier contact details: Educational Colours - [email protected]

For health concerns: Department of Health (08) 9222 4222

To bring awareness to Napcan's National Child Protection Week (first week of September), Breathing Space with Gecko partnered with Speedy Spanners Mechanics Serpentine to help families within the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale dispose of expired and broken child car restraints.

It was a fantastic success, with over 10 expired and broken restraints now safely off the road and disposed of properly.

Keep an eye out for the same initiative next year, as child safety is always our priority.

Dont forget that Breathing Space with Gecko are a qualified type 1 child car restrsint fitter and can travel out to you to fit new restraints, check current ones, and offer professional advice on what restraints suit your family’s needs.

All Child Car Restraints have a 10-year lifetime from date of manufacture. If you are unsure, contact us to book in a check.

Have your say on Phase 2 Reforms to strengthen WA’s Working with Children Check law!

The closing date for submissions is 23 September 2025.

Organisations and individuals who work with children, parents and carers of children, and all other interested parties and individuals are invited to provide their feedback.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Department of Communities is undertaking a public consultation process to seek feedback on potential reforms to the Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004 (WWC Act).

The potential Phase 2 reforms aim to:
- Improve protections for WA’s children by updating the WWC Act’s scope to reflect contemporary service provision.

- Ensure that regardless of where a child lives, they are provided a consistent level of protection by increased national consistency across State and Territory WWC Schemes to the extent possible and appropriate.

This is the WA Government’s second phase of reform in response to the Working with Children Checks Report recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse. The first phase of reform began in July 2023, with substantive commencement of the Working with Children (Criminal Record Checking) Amendment Act 2022.

Have your say on Phase 2 Reforms to strengthen WA’s Working with Children Check law The Department of Communities has released a public consultation paper seeking feedback from the Western Australian (WA) community on potential Phase 2 reforms to WA’s Working with Children (WWC) Check law.

🌿 Welcome to Breathing Space with Gecko – Holistic Family Support

We’re a small, WA owned and operated in-home child care service offering a peaceful, nurturing space where children can grow through play, connection, and calm rhythms. With a holistic, heart-centered approach, we support the whole child—and the whole family.

🦎 Nature play • Gentle care • Community connection
✅ Approved for the Child Care Subsidy
🚗 Mobile Type 1 Child Car Restraint Fitter – keeping your little ones safe on the go
💚 A place to breathe. A space to grow.

📍 Based in Perth, WA
📩 Contact us to learn more!

To bring awareness to Napcan's National Child Protection Week, Breathing Space with Gecko is partnering with Speedy Spanners Mechanics Serpentine to help you get rid of any old unused child car restraints you may have laying around.

For the entire month of September, simply drop off your used, broken, expired, old restraints to Speedy Spanners for FREE!

Don't have time to drop them off? No worries! Text 0477 712 718 with your address and how many need collecting and we will look after the rest! (only applies to residents within Serpentine Jarrahdale Shire)

All Child Car Restraints have a 10-year lifetime from date of manufacture. If you are unsure, we can check before you dispose of them.

Help us keep the roads and our next generation safer!

We finally have a website!

So much has been going on in the background for our little business, including designing and implementing a website to streamline any and all enquiries 😊

Go check it out here:

www.breathingspacewithgecko.com.au

Four Corners did a MAJOR story on child care centres that aired earlier this week.

I know it is an hour long… but please watch it, and please share it.

The amount of incidents I have personally seen, is horrific.

The fact that the government throws money at this to make it ‘go away’ and pass the responsibility on to private investors makes my whole body shiver.

Funding is CONSTANTLY thrown at child care centres, and things like In Home Care are scraping the bottom of the barrel just to get through the next week.

Child care centres need to be held accountable.

The government needs to be held accountable.

Something HAS to change.

Exposing the systemic failures of Australia’s childcare industry | Four Corners documentary This week on Four Corners, a one-hour special reveals the deep failures and systemic issues plaguing Australia’s childcare sector.   With nearly one-and-a-h...

Master Carter went horse riding along the beach today! What a gorgeous day for it! ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
🐴🐚☀️⁣
⁣