Family day care right on target in Victoria Kylie Swan with her daughter Amity Swan and her home-based day care pupil Tessa Rudd. Picture: Jason Edwards Source: HeraldSun FAMILY day care is booming in Victoria, with more working parents seeking around-the-clock, home-based care for their children. This form of childcare, in which a trained educator looks after up to four preschoolers in their own home, has grown by 18 per cent in the last quarter. Family day care also received more top rankings than centre-based child care in the latest federal quality report. The sector is best placed to meet the needs of shift workers, with a growing number of services offering overnight and weekend care. Trials also started last month for 24-hour family day care at three sites in Victoria, catering for the children of police officers. "Family day care is a very unique form of early childhood education and care with smaller groups and a more nurturing, home-based setting which still meets the same quality requirements as centre-based care," Family Day Care Australia chief executive officer Carla Northam said. More and more families are realising the benefits of the small group settings, flexible, quality care arrangements and nurturing environment. In Victoria, family day care centres grew from 174 to 206 between March and June this year. A federal report released today shows one million children attend child care - up 33 per cent in six years. Childcare Minister Kate Ellis said more families used child care than ever before, requiring child care on more days of the week and for longer hours. "Nearly half of all three to five-year-olds in Australia are now in child care - up from 43.5 per cent six years ago," she said. The report shows fees increased by 7.3 per cent on average last year, and the average family spent 8 per cent of their income on child care. Family Day Care educator Kylie Swan has been looking after four preschoolers in her Seaholme home for the past six years. The group includes her own daughter Amity, three. "The families tell me they love the family environment that family day care offers," she said yesterday. Expressions of interest are now open for 100 police families in Victoria to be part of the flexible childcare trial.