After almost 33 years the City of Perth have made a decision to close the doors of Citiplace Chile Care Centre (press release). 

The council made the decision citing too many other daycare options in the City and low occupancy at Citiplace as the reason. Understand that businesses globally are doing it tough during this pandemic however, we can't stand back and let the council close the Centre. It's been the stalwart of hundreds of families over the last 32 years. As of yesterday (31 March) the City of Perth has advised the Centre will close at the end of September. 

Citiplace Child Care Centre is a unique centre unlike any others available to Perth families. The educators and staff ARE our families. They don't stay there for decades on end (some have been there upward of 25-30 years) for the pay, they stay there because of the phenomenal community and family spirit the Centre provides. As those parents who rely on child care centres would know, it's one of the hardest decisions in life that you make...finding a centre that you know will support your child's development not to mention one that you feel comfortable with and don't walk away feeling anxious that your child is in someone else's care. 53 families now have to go through the process of finding alternate care for their children which sounds easy enough however, it's actually going to be a MASSIVE change in our children's lives. 

In my opinion the City of Perth needs to be held accountable for the closure and actually do some work to improve the situation. It's amazing what some hard work and focus can achieve! The facts are

- The City have allowed 10 other child care centres to open within the City of Perth over the years (these are direct competition to Citiplace Child Care)

- In the 4.5 years we've been attending Citiplace the City of Perth have increased the fees once, by $50/week. How do they expect to compete with others if they don't increase costs occasionally and invest in the Centre?!

- The City has not maintained the Centre and so it doesn't stack up to the bright lights of it's competitors...refer above point

- The City doesn't advertise the Centre other than a 1 page web page on the City's website so again how do they expect to be competitive in the market? 

Perhaps if the City made an effort to run the Centre as a business all of us wouldn't be in this position. The City is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising campaigns and free parking to get people back to the city. The ironic thing with the Centre's closure is that the majority of families will now look to child card centres closer to home (& most of us don't live within the City of Perth!). We go out of our way twice a day to take our kids to Citiplace for a reason.  

We need your support to fight to keep Citiplace open. Not just for the educators to remain employed, not just for our families so we don't have to go through a huge upheaval but for future families to come. So they too get to experience the same joy and love that we have with the Centre and all the staff. So that the Centre can remain open for another 33 years+ and encourage people to come back to work in the city. 

Thanks in advance for your time and support.