By Emma Sun
Stay-at-home mum Fiona McLean wants more support for parents of young children. 77316
AN OLINDA mum of four children is urging Yarra Ranges Council to provide subsidised funding to help parents.
But the council has said its priority is to assist the elderly instead.
Fiona McLean, who has a teenage daughter, a 15-month-old daughter and infant twins, said she was struggling to cope with the stress of looking after three babies.
She currently looks after her children full-time, while her husband works two jobs to support the family.
“I have too much to do for one person and I’m exhausted, and that’s pretty much how it is,” she said.
“I understand people would ask why I would have so many children, but you can’t plan for twins, they were not IVF and it was just a freak of nature.
Ms McLean said due to the family’s financial situation, getting childcare or finding a babysitter has been out of the question.
While she has been able to find support through the church and mothers groups, which she was grateful for, she said she did not want to have to rely on volunteers who also need time for themselves.
“The community has really helped as much as they can, but there’s only so much help you can get,” she said.
“As time goes on, people get busy again and they shouldn’t always have to always be helping me, and I think that’s why council should step in and help.
“I’m not asking for free help, but subsidised help would be great.”
She said she wasn’t looking to take funding away from the elderly, but hoped the council would provide money for parents as well.
“I think both are important, neither one is more important than the other,” she said.
“I think we have to place more importance on the raising of children, on parenthood, as well.”
Jenny Parker, a good friend of Ms McLean and mother of three teenage children, said when she had her children in the ’80s, she received several months of support from the council.
“My situation was nowhere near as critical as what Fiona’s is now, and I received maybe a couple of hours a week of subsidised help,” she said.
“Somebody would come in and do a bit of cleaning for me, and sometimes that can be a lifesaving thing in itself because then I would go out and have an outing, which is absolutely important for people in that position.”
Yarra Ranges Council’s social and economic development director Alison Cran said the Victorian Home and Community Care program did provide assistance to new mothers years ago, but with the rapid growth of the aged population, the services were redirected and withdrawn.
Ms Parker acknowledged the need to provide funding for the elderly, but argued that it wouldn’t take much to help parents as well.
“They need the support, and it just needs to be for a short time – babies will grow, so it won’t take that long to satisfy that need.”
