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When Melanie Cooke's phone pinged with an email from her children's daycare at 4.05pm on Friday afternoon, she assumed it could wait until Monday.
The next morning, she woke to a flood of angry, panicked texts from other parents who rely on the daycare in Woy Woy, on New South Wales' Central Coast.
Cooke clicked into the email and was horrified to see that Peninsula Long Day Care, where her two kids were enrolled five days a week, would be closing on Monday, October 21.
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"Due to unforeseen circumstances Peninsula before and after school care and vacation care will not be able to offer care moving forward for children in the long day care 0-5 years room," read an attached letter from Stephanie Wallace, Executive Officer at Coast Community Connections, which operated the daycare.
The letter, sighted by 9news.com.au, said that long day care services for children aged zero to five would cease on Monday, October 21, and that any fees paid in advance would be refunded.
"We apologise for the short notice and understand the inconvenience this may pose to working families; this decision was not made lightly," it read.
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Cooke couldn't believe the 41 other families who relied on the daycare had only been given notice two hours before it closed on Friday.
"The childcare closed at 6pm on Friday, and they said that we couldn't bring our kids in on Monday morning," she told 9news.
"It's totally unethical, deplorable behaviour and [it] has just been handled incredibly poorly … we haven't received anything even close to a proper explanation."
Cooke attempted to contact the daycare via phone and email repeatedly, as did other parents, but claimed they heard nothing back.
Now tens of Central Coast families have been left without childcare for their young children and face waitlists of up to two years for other providers in the area.
Cooke and her husband both work full time and neither can take the kids to work, putting them in a difficult position financially.
"We're lucky because we can call up grandma from Victoria to come up and stay with us, to help with the kids," Cooke said, but it's not a long-term solution.
Other parents aren't so fortunate.
"There's a single parent family, where mum has a casual job and she has no leave entitlements and is unable to take time off," Cooke said.
"She's terrified that she's now going to lose her job and has no family support to help."
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Cooke has contacted other daycare providers on the Central Coast, but most have already finalised 2025 placements and have no space for more children.
If Cooke and her husband can't find a solution soon, they would have to consider providers further afield like Hornsby in Sydney's north, a 45 minute drive away.
"I expect that I will have to reduce my working days in order to be available to the kids …it becomes financially, really difficult for us," Cooke said.
In a follow-up email sent on Tuesday, Wallace and Sharryn Brownlee, Board President at Coast Community Connections, promised refunds were coming and apologised for the impact the closure has had on families.
"We appreciate this is an extremely difficult time for your family," read a letter attached to the email and sighted by 9news.
"The decision to change the nature of our service so suddenly was unfortunate and a decision we did not take lightly."
It said Coast Community Connections management and staff met with the Department of Education on Tuesday morning and are "working closely to explore operational viability options for 0-5year old families impacted".
The letter also said the Department of Education confirmed that all obligatory notifications were received from Coast Community Connections regarding the sudden closure.
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A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education told 9news: "The NSW Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority made contact with the service on Monday.
"The department is making enquiries about the circumstances around the closure. We understand the impact that service closures have on families."
They advised that anyone with a concern or complaint can contact the department on 1800 619 113 or email [email protected].
Cooke has spent the last five days calling and emailing other parents, local Members for Parliament, and the Department of Education, desperate for a quick resolution for the 42 families affected.
She started a Change.Org petition to save the daycare service, which has received about 800 signatures, and attended a demonstration outside the daycare today.
"Parents are so upset, they're so stressed out. People are losing sleep. People are having panic attacks," Cooke said.
"What the hell are we meant to do?"
In a statement shared with 9news, Coast Community Connections Chairperson Sharryn Brownlee said it was determined that "the room for care of 0-5 children was not able to continue to operate under current regulations and government funding arrangements" following a recent investigation on service operations on the Central Coast.
"We sincerely apologise to the 29 families affected. We understand the significant inconvenience this has caused, especially considering the current challenges of securing childcare on the Central Coast," it read.
"We are currently working with consultants to develop a purpose-built, new facility that will expand our children's services that are planned for opening in 2025."
Brownlee confirmed that services for children aged five to 12 would continue and all staff previously working with the daycare cohort had been "provided alternatives to work within our services".
She asked for understanding and for the community to "consider the impact of the personal attacks directed towards our staff and board members".
Brownlee previously told Coast Community News that this decision was the only way the organisation could proceed if it wants to remain viable.
"We do not want to end up closing, as several other Central Coast community organisations have done recently," she told the outlet.
She revealed some old buildings at the Woy Woy location had been demolished and shared plans to build a new centre on the Peninsula, buy new land and keep expanding.
"We are looking to grow our Early Learning Centres across the Central Coast," she added.
"To that end we have demolished some old buildings at Woy Woy and are looking to get architects and builders started on a new centre on the Peninsula."
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