‘Modest take-up’: More than 90 families await childminders as pilot faces matching challenge
Having the service more evenly spread across Singapore would give parents options closer to home and reduce travel time, one parent said.
A baby being fed. (File photo: iStock/BbenPhotographer)
New: You can now listen to articles.
This audio is generated by an AI tool.
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
SINGAPORE: Dozens of families are on a waitlist for a childminder under a government pilot offering home and community-based care for infants.
As of July 2026, more than 110 infants have enrolled in the pilot since it began in December 2024, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) said in response to CNA’s queries.
Another 95 families are waiting to be matched with a childminder. About 250 active childminders are registered under the pilot.
Some parents who spoke to CNA said they had positive experiences with the childminders they engaged, but others struggled to find one located near their homes.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Some childminders also said they had challenges securing a steady stream of enrolments.
Operators said that interest does not necessarily translate into enrolments, as parents typically want a childminder close to their home, workplace or daily commute.
ECDA told CNA that feedback from participating families has generally been positive, with the majority of parents surveyed indicating they were satisfied with the pilot and would recommend it to others.
“At the same time, take-up has been modest. The key difficulty has been in matching available childminders with interested families, typically due to geographical distance.
“We are monitoring these and other factors as we assess the pilot, and consider the way forward.”
Launched in December 2024, the three-year pilot allows childminders engaged by three operators – EduNanny by Butler, Kidibliss and NannyPro Care – to provide infant care in their homes or at designated community spaces.
The pilot is open to Singaporean infants aged between two and 18 months. Each childminder can care for up to three infants at any one time.
ECDA conducts background checks on childminders, who must undergo mandatory training including infant first aid and basic infant care before they can work.
Services cost S$16.50 (US$12.90) for five hours of half-day care and S$33 for 10 hours of full-day care, before Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Parents can use their child’s Child Development Account funds to further offset the cost during subsidised hours between 7am and 7pm from Mondays to Fridays, excluding public holidays.
Other nanny and babysitting websites showed that prices can start at around S$25 an hour and go up to about S$50 per hour to care for one baby.
LACK OF CHILDMINDERS
Ms Michelle Chua said it was difficult to find a childminder close to her home. She was on a waiting list for infant care and recalled “panicking” before a friend told her about the pilot.
Ms Chua, who works in public service, approached the operators and initially secured a spot, but the childminder pulled out at the last minute.
With no other home-based childminders near her, she eventually placed her baby at the childminding service at Tampines Community Club.
She later moved to Jurong and again looked for a home-based childminder. She was told by an operator there was availability, but it did not materialise as the operator told her the childminder was not ready.
She eventually matched and accepted one in Bukit Panjang, but said the commute was “quite tiring”.
Ms Chua said having more childminders spread across Singapore would give parents more options closer to home.
For Ms Jerrine Khong, who works in social services, proximity was key.
When she was looking for a childminder for her eight-month-old daughter, she was given two options and chose one who lived two bus stops away.
“What I think would help is really having more options. You would want to put your child at a place that is near your house, but there were very limited options.
“I think I was very, very fortunate that the childminder had a slot then. Because if it was already full, then there would be no one to go to,” the 38-year-old said.
Operators also see a gap between interest and take-up.
Mr Poon Da Qian, founder and CEO of Butler, which operates EduNanny, told CNA that as of Sep 15, it had received 451 enquiries from parents, of which 362 were home-based and 89 were centre-based.
But only 58 families engaged it, including 31 for home-based childminding.
“Our experience is that there is demand, but distance and convenience play an important part in parents’ selection. Parents want a trusted childminder within their neighbourhood or conveniently en route to their workplace,” Mr Poon said.
For some families, childminding also serves as a fix before their infant gets a preschool place.
“Therefore, our challenge has been to ramp up our childminder infant caregivers in the neighbourhoods where parents need them.
“It is not just about having more childminders, but having the right childminders in the right locations,” Mr Poon said.
Ms Becky Eng, director of NannyPro, similarly said take-up has “not been consistent across all periods and childminders”.
Beyond location, she said the pilot’s maximum of 10 hours of care a day and affordability could affect whether families eventually take up the service, as working parents may need longer hours.
Operators said greater awareness of childminding could also help boost take-up.
“Many parents are still unfamiliar with childminding as a formal childcare option and may initially view it simply as an alternative to infant care centres,” Ms Eng said.
“Rather than looking only at the number of enquiries, we believe that building greater awareness and garnering childminders to come on board within the community will definitely increase utilisation.”
CHILDMINDERS STRUGGLE TO FIND BABIES
While some parents are waiting for a suitable caregiver, some childminders face the opposite problem – finding enough children.
Ms Jessica Ng, who is with Kidibliss, said she has yet to see a steady stream of enrolments.
She currently cares for three infants, but only managed to get hired to look after a third baby in September, after searching since the start of the year.
“We will have enquiries every now and then, but it has slowed down a lot. The difficulty that I face … is the timing and having three babies all the time, which is the ideal,” she said.
Ms Shirley Kuan, a childminder with EduNanny by Butler, said many parents did not know about the pilot.
“We really need to get more childminders and get more people to know … Advertisements have not been strong enough.”
For the pilot to grow, operators said the task is twofold: raising awareness among parents while building a pool of suitable childminders in neighbourhoods where they are needed.
As Mr Poon put it, the two sides “need to come together within the same neighbourhoods”.
Parents interviewed by CNA pointed to benefits including a smaller caregiving environment, more personalised attention and children falling ill less frequently.
For some, having another care option also made returning to work more manageable.
EduNanny’s Mr Poon said most of the families using its childminding services are dual-income households.
According to the General Household Survey 2025, about 56.6 per cent of married couples in resident households have both spouses employed in 2025, up from 52.5 per cent in 2020.
When English tutor Valerie Yap returned to work for four to five hours a day, leaving her son at home with her husband proved difficult.
Her son would cry for hours while she was away, while her husband struggled with back pain from carrying and pacifying him.
“We didn’t think that it was sustainable. It was incredibly difficult to focus on work,” she said.
After a paediatrician suggested getting “outside help”, Ms Yap said she decided to “take the plunge” and looked for a childminder.
Ms Yap said she appreciated the routines and structure the childminder established, something the couple found difficult to do while juggling housework and other responsibilities.
As her son began eating solid foods, the childminder also took on more of his meal preparation.
The childminder’s setup was catered to the babies’ needs and there were designated areas for babies to play, she said.
Ms Chua said her childminder was experienced in infant nutrition, established a routine for her son and kept her updated with photos throughout the day.
For Ms Khong, the engagement and exposure to different activities helped her daughter’s development.
She noted there was also an older infant who had started walking, and her daughter would try to model that.
Dr Rebecca Chan, a lecturer in psychology and child and human development at the National Institute of Education (NIE), said meaningful relationships and interactions are critical to early brain development, including attachment, language and motor skills.
One way to assess the quality of care is to look at whether caregivers create individualised activities, she added.
“When the caregiver does not feel hurried … but they have that time to focus on the child, that interaction, that awareness of the child’s likes and dislikes, and the child’s habits … all these are very critical,” she said.
GAPS REMAIN
Parents said there were gaps that need to be addressed, particularly if the pilot becomes permanent.
For Ms Chua, relying on a single caregiver came with drawbacks, such as when the childminder fell ill.
Although she had been told that an alternative could be arranged, there was no suitable replacement nearby. She also wanted greater visibility into her son’s care during the day.
While she received photos and could access CCTV footage of his cot while he slept, she would have preferred cameras covering other areas of the home.
It is currently not mandatory for CCTV cameras to be installed in a childminder’s home.
Ms Khong pointed to the lack of backup care as an issue.
“Unlike in an infant care setting where there’s another teacher to replace … we must make arrangements for our child to be home with us,” she added.
But Ms Khong felt this was an acceptable trade-off, given how frequently her daughter had fallen ill while attending infant care.”
“If my child is sick all the time from infant care, the amount of leave I have to take all the time will be more than if my childminder falls sick.”
Fixed pick-up times also posed a challenge for parents, especially when unexpected delays cropped up.
Ms Yap said although her childminder was personally more flexible about occasional delays, the operator imposed late charges after a grace period of about 10 to 15 minutes.
Operators have made changes in response to feedback.
Mr Poon said one of EduNanny’s biggest challenges at the start of the pilot was building its operating system while ensuring that safety and standards were maintained.
“The biggest challenge at the beginning was building the system itself, while ensuring that safety remained non-negotiable and that standards and the care of infants were paramount,” he said.
Feedback from parents has shaped how the service has evolved. For instance, EduNanny introduced CCTV for both its home- and centre-based services.
The operator also introduced a chat system, daily reporting, training modules and safety audits, which Mr Poon said were aimed at making communication and standards of care more consistent.
NIE’s Dr Chan said if childminding becomes a permanent initiative, parents would need assurance over safety and accountability given that care takes place in a home environment.
Even if that does not translate to a CCTV in every home, she suggested using other forms of technology to allow parents to keep track of the child’s heart rate and other indicators that can tell if the child is feeling anxious or unsafe.
“It’s home-based. The only thing that parents need assurance is the safety aspect and accountability,” she added.
“NO HARM TRYING”
Despite the challenges, parents CNA spoke to encouraged others to consider childminding.
Ms Yap advised parents to meet prospective childminders before deciding whether the arrangement was right for their child.
She described finding her son’s childminder as a “huge blessing”, but acknowledged that the relationship ultimately depended on the fit between caregiver, parent and child.
Ms Khong also advised parents to visit prospective childminders’ homes.
Entrusting a baby to someone in their home could initially be daunting, she said, but meeting the caregiver helped address some of her concerns.
She said receiving frequent updates and photos and it gave her further assurance.
“This might be something that will appeal to parents,” she said.
Childminders also encouraged parents to take the chance and trust that they would raise their babies in a good environment.
For Ms Ng, caring for other people’s infants brings back memories of raising her own children.
“Every baby that comes in, I get flashbacks to taking care of my own babies. You provide the same kind of empathy and love,” she said.
Source: CNA/cj
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
