I send Emma Rose to a PORSE caregiver's home. She's been going to her since she was 8 months old. She started out there two afternoons a week, and now she usually goes two days a week, but she's gone for the occasional full week when I've had lots of work on.

My PORSE carer is amazing. I was reluctant at first, for all the reasons mentioned above -- not knowing her personally, not being sure about someone else driving my kid around, not knowing what was going on all day long. But I'm a big believer in instinct, and Emma Rose's carer gives me very good vibes. I did check references, and I spent two hours with her before committing Emma Rose to staying with her -- an hour on my own, where I grilled her about all kinds of things, from discipline to safety to emergency management -- and an hour with Em there, to see how she interacted with her and the other kids. What I saw convinced me that the carer was The One. I've never regretted sending Em to her.

I think the success of in-home childcare depends largely on the parents' relationships with the caregiver. I've always been really clear about my expectations with regards to my child, and Em's carer has always been really clear about what she expects from us. I love that Em goes to her. The carer treats my child like her own child, and that is something I want. I worked in a daycare centre when I was at uni, and I hated not being able to cuddle the children, having a regimented schedule of feeding and toileting and structured play, and not having one-on-one time with them. My desire with Em's care is for her to be in a home-like environment where she can be herself, make a mess, explore, and have the consistency of seeing the same caregiver and the same kids every time she goes.

I think that childcare has to meet your needs and your expectations, and that's why PORSE and in-home care works for some people but doesn't work for others. Ask lots of questions, interview them, and spend time with them to see how closely their philosophies conform to yours.

I have a 10month old who has been in care part time since he was 4 months old.
We went with the inhome care because our son was so little and we thought he was always sick with a cold....turns out it was allergies.
I looked at 4 companies and went to visit 5 carers.
Barnadoes were $4.50 per hour
Jemmas were $4.00 per hour
Amanda's were $6.50 per hour
Porse were $7.00 per hour

I went with Porse, our carer is just the BEST. I could not ask for anything more for my son. His carer has a daughter who is a couple of months older than Tyrell.
They are just the best of mates and it has been so nice to see them grow together. Now when they see each other they crawl as fast as they can to each other and give each other a kiss hello....just so cute.

Porse check on the carer and children once a month without fail. The carer is able to get their certificates, degree through them.

My advise is to look at all of them as each company is different but so are their carers. The thing that got me was some of them just treat it as a job they had no feeling about what they are doing. For us our carer is just full of love and affection and attention and.......everything. She is the only 1 that when I went to visit wanted to hold and interact with Tyrell.....might have been what got me.....

I am sure I could go on all day about our carer but I think I may have answered your questions.....

Do you use in home childcare?  Nope my eldest goes to daycare and my youngest will go there as well next year

Has anyone used PORSE network home based childcare?  Nope my friend looked into it when she finished her degree (early childhood education)

Would you use it?  If I wasn't studying maybe but I like my set up I have.

How does it compare to outside the home childcare? I don't know that much about it. I'm the type of person that want her children to be looked after and cared for by fully qualified people and our daycare is now 90% qualified so i'm happy with that. And I like that there are a variety of teachers at daycare.