Consumer-identified need
Despite the rapid growth in the number of child care places which has taken place since
the mid-1980s, the ABS identified a substantial level of unsatisfied need for services.
The ABS Child Care Survey 1990 reported that between 1987 and 1990 the number of
children whose parents indicated that their child care needs were not met more than
doubled, from 242,000 in 1987 to 514,000 in 1990 (ABS I992a:18).16 In 1990, 35 per cent
of these 514,000 children were not using any form of child care and 42 per cent were
using informal child care arrangements but no formal services. A further 23 per cent
were already using some formal child care services but their parents indicated that they
required more child care than they were using (ABS 1992a:57).
Long day care, family day care and outside school hours care (service types associated
with parental employment) together account for 57 per cent of the expressed
unsatisfied need. The largest single category of care required is 'other formal care'
(mainly occasional care and services provided at shopping centres and sporting venues