'We're adding unborn children to waitlists'. The reality of Australia's childcare deserts.

There's a moment many parents know too well.

You're ready to return to work. Or you need to, because financially there is no other option. You open your laptop, phone wedged between your shoulder and ear, a toddler climbing your leg, and you start calling childcare centres.

You leave messages. You refresh your inbox. You check waitlists you joined months, sometimes years ago. And slowly, it sinks in.

The problem is not that you have not found the right place yet. It is that there might not be a place at all.

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Across Australia, families are living in what researchers call "childcare deserts"— areas where there are simply not enough childcare places to meet demand.

For parents and carers in regional and outer metropolitan communities, this is not an abstract policy concept or a buzzword. It's a daily reality that shapes how families live, work, parent and cope.

For many, it is the background stress that never really switches off.

What is a childcare desert, really?

A childcare desert is typically defined as an area where there are more than three children for every available childcare place. On paper, that sounds clinical and contained. In real life, it looks chaotic, exhausting and deeply personal.

It looks like parents adding their unborn child to a waitlist and still having no guarantee of care years later. It looks like families driving between towns to drop children at different services, on different days. It looks like grandparents stepping in, not because they want to, but because there is no other choice.

It looks like parents rearranging work hours, shelving study plans, turning down promotions, or quietly exiting the workforce altogether.

And it looks different depending on where you live.

In many regional areas, families may have access to preschool in the year before school, but struggle to find care for babies and toddlers. Long day care options are often limited. Family Day Care has declined in some regions.

Opening new services can be prohibitively expensive due to land costs, planning restrictions, compliance requirements and workforce shortages.

The result is a system that feels rigid in a world where family life is anything but.

Parenting inside permanent uncertainty.

Dr Jenna Condie, a social researcher at Western Sydney University and a parent living in the Blue Mountains, says the defining feature of parenting in a childcare desert is uncertainty.

"People often think of childcare stress as something temporary," she told Mamamia. "But for many families, it is ongoing. It is years of not knowing whether care will be available, affordable, or stable."

Dr Condie became a parent in 2020, during the pandemic, and says accessing childcare has been a struggle ever since.

She has had her two-year-old on a waitlist since early 2024.

"I still have not had a phone call," she said.

That uncertainty has real consequences. Parents describe living in constant patchwork mode, juggling multiple care arrangements across different locations and days. While it might look manageable on paper, the mental load is immense.

"You are constantly reorganising your life," Dr Condie said. "You cannot plan ahead. You cannot say yes to work confidently. You're always bracing for something to fall through."

That pressure reshapes entire households. One parent reduces hours. Another turns down opportunities. Household incomes change. Long-term career trajectories quietly shift.

Dr Condie says the impact can often mean families dropping to a single income.

"This is why childcare has to be treated as an essential infrastructure," she said. "Like schools. Like roads. If governments are serious about workforce participation and gender equality, childcare cannot be optional."

Where are childcare deserts?

Childcare deserts are far more common outside major cities. Geography, population spread, workforce shortages and infrastructure challenges all play a role.

Louise Hatton, Coordinator of Children's Services at Eurobodalla Family Day Care, says strong demand coupled with limited supply is a constant reality in regional areas.

"Families are often travelling between towns or sitting on long waitlists," she told Mamamia.

"When care is limited, it affects not just families, but local employers and entire communities."

Hatton says the shortage is particularly acute for younger children.

"Preschool in the year before school is often better supported," she said. "But when it comes to care for under threes, families have far fewer options."

She believes Family Day Care plays a crucial role in regional communities because it allows educators to create care locally and flexibly.

"One Family Day Care educator can care for up to seven children," Hatton said. "That can significantly expand capacity in areas where centre-based care is scarce."

But barriers remain. Bushfire compliance requirements, housing suitability concerns, and misconceptions about Family Day Care prevent many educators from entering the system.

"Family Day Care is not a lesser option," Hatton said. "It is delivered by qualified educators under the National Quality Framework. In many regional areas, it is one of the most effective and responsive models we have."

When parents try to fill the gaps themselves.

In many childcare deserts, parents do not just wait for solutions. They try to build them.

Across Australia, community-led models, parent-run collectives, co-working spaces with onsite childcare, and informal networks have emerged in response to unmet need. These models often offer flexibility, proximity and gentler transitions into care, particularly for families with babies and toddlers.

In the Blue Mountains, parents established Bub Hub Blue Mountains, a community-led not-for-profit offering co-working with onsite childcare after families simply could not access care elsewhere.

"We built it because we had to," Dr Condie said. "There were no other options."

The model allowed parents to work nearby while their children were cared for in the same space, offering a level of closeness many families were craving.

But innovation does not equal sustainability. Without ongoing government funding, many grassroots childcare solutions struggle to survive. Bub Hub has had to pause sessions despite continued demand.

"It shows how much unpaid labour parents and carers are expected to carry," Dr Condie said. "People are organising, advocating, fundraising, often while exhausted and under financial pressure."

There is a limit to how much families can hold without structural support.

What families really lose.

When childcare is scarce or unstable, families lose more than convenience. They lose continuity for their children. They lose trusted relationships with educators. They lose community connections. They lose the ability to plan their lives with confidence.

Dr Condie describes high quality childcare as community infrastructure, not just a service.

"It is where children build a sense of belonging in their earliest years," she said. "It is where families connect, support each other and feel anchored," she said.

When that infrastructure is weak or missing, stress ripples outward. Children feel disruption. Parents feel guilt and anxiety. Communities feel fractured.

And because early childhood is such a foundational period, the effects linger.

So what needs to change?

There is no single fix for Australia's childcare deserts. They are created by intersecting pressures. Workforce shortages. Rising costs. Geography. Planning rules. Policy settings that often prioritise scale over community need.

But parents, carers and experts consistently return to one core issue.

Childcare is still treated as optional, rather than essential.

Dr Condie is currently co-leading the Childcare Stress Index project at Western Sydney University, which aims to identify where childcare stress is most acute so governments can better direct resources.

"Childcare stress is not evenly distributed," she said. "Some communities are under far more pressure than others, and policy needs to reflect that."

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For families living in childcare deserts, the ask is not complicated.

They want care that exists. They want care they can trust. They want care that reflects how families actually live.

Until that happens, parents and carers across Australia will keep doing what they have always done. Making it work. Juggling. Compromising. Carrying the load quietly.

And asking the same question, over and over again. Where am I supposed to put my child?

Feature image: Getty. (Stock image for illustrative purposes).