1 in 10 long daycares don’t provide food – this means some kids might be going hungry
A new report looks at daycares across Australia to see how many provide kids with at least lunch.
Australia's early childhood education and care services provide meals for nearly all children attending long daycare, with only one in ten not offering any food, according to a new report. This means that families often must provide children's meals, which can be problematic for families already struggling with food insecurity. Approximately 91% of all daycare services examined in the study provided at least lunch, with access to meals being notably lower in small rural towns and Tasmania, a state with higher levels of disadvantage.
Larger, higher-fee, and for-profit centers were more likely to provide meals than smaller, lower-fee, and not-for-profit centers, respectively. Although the study did not assess the nutritional quality of the meals, previous research suggests many services struggle to meet nutrition standards due to limited budgets, workforce pressures, and inconsistent access to nutrition support.
The findings emphasize the need for government intervention to ensure that early childhood education and care services adequately support the nutritional needs of children, particularly in disadvantaged communities.
Written by urgent.news from The Conversation AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
