We brought up two kids here without any family support network and it wasnt easy. I probably wouldnt have used the family support network that we had had at home either but just knowing they were there would have been enough.
Didnt find there to be terribly much support from other families although there was a baby sitting collective where we were - our social group were mainly students at the time so we were all strapped for cash. That was many years ago and I am not sure how strong those sorts of things are now with people being very cautious about "odd folk" out there. As more families now are double income families, there is a degree more insularity - it was very hard working in schools for example to get a huge parent contribution to volunteer work in the classroom as most parents were out at work. You do get the occasional play date thing going on but, again, parents do like to know where their kids are visiting. Before and after school care programs are usually very well patronised.
Child care centres are all regulated and are pretty good IMHO. They can be expensive but if you have
PR then there are rebates which are means tested. I am not convinced that maternal and child health options are that great but they are state responsibilities and vary from place to place (I dont think ours is very good for example).
There are moves afoot for improving the maternity leave provisions but at the moment they arent great unless you work for the government and I have no idea what impact any changes will have on the prospective employment for young women of child bearing age (no one has any idea but my guess is that employers will look differently on young women if they have to deal with paid maternity leave issues - I dunno)
so will look later in the week!
