Tasmanian solo mother Rhianna Barnewall could be forced to say goodbye to her community if she can't access additional childcare.
The Flinders Island mother will soon return to her teaching role two days a week.
The island, about 50 kilometres from Tasmania's north-eastern tip, only has one childcare provider.
Ms Barnewall has managed to secure care for her one-year-old daughter Zippora, but it only operates from 8:30am until 3:30pm.
It means Ms Barnewall will have to adjust her working hours or call on others for support.
"I don't like asking for help. It can be really frustrating," she said.
"You feel like you owe people and it's really a powerless feeling."
Next year, Ms Barnewall will need to increase her days at work to get by financially, but there's no guarantee of more childcare for Zippora.
The childcare centre, known as Duckpond, cannot keep up with growing demand.
It can typically only accommodate 15 children, but that figure is now down to 10 due to staffing ratios.
Nineteen children were born in the past two years, and another six are expected by the end of the year.
For Ms Barnewall, it could mean moving away, leaving her community behind.
"It would be really sad for my daughter," she said.
"It feels like there's a constant threat in the background of her losing a major component of her family."
Ms Barnewall feels torn between having financial security and living close to extended family.
" I want to plan for the future," she said.
"Which do you choose? Do you choose that [financial security], or do you choose family for her?
"Because it shouldn't be a choice anyone has to make."
A ripple effect on the community
The nation is struggling with staff shortages in early learning, according to Thrive Group Tasmania's general manager, Ed Beswick.
"The Tasmanian mainland is no different, and then you've got the island off the island situation," he said.
"So being highly remote and regional, it's really, really hard to find and attract those staff that meet the minimum qualification requirements."
In February, the childcare centre closed for almost two weeks due to staff illness.
Parents took time off to look after their children, and some small businesses closed altogether.
"It just highlights how important early learning services, like our Duckpond service, are to those communities," Mr Beswick said.
"They absolutely rely on them, and they're absolutely essential.
"When they can't run for a period … it really has a massive community impact and flow-on effect."
But Mr Beswick said even with more staff, Duckpond could not take on extra children in its current facility — a converted office space.
Council pushes for solution
The Flinders Council is advocating for state and federal support and funding and is investigating options for the reliable provision of early childhood education and care.
Mayor Rachel Summers said it was looking to move the centre to a purpose-built facility on the school grounds and form an educational precinct for children of all ages.
The idea is to draw on staffing from the main school, utilising teachers with early childhood qualifications.
"They'd be able to form plans and programs that the childcare staff can then implement," Ms Summers said.
"So that's giving them more time to focus on actually delivering and caring for educating and caring for the children."
When staff are sick or on leave, Ms Summers says qualified teaching assistants could step in.
"The thing about being in a small community, and especially in a place like Flinders Island, is you can't just go somewhere else," she said.
"We can't just drive down the road to another childcare centre and hope that they can take our kids.
"What we've got here is our only option."
How employment would work across the private and public sectors is yet to be determined.
Ms Summers said the lack of childcare was hampering the island's efforts to grow its population.
Mr Beswick said the council's proposal could help attract staff.
A federal Department of Education spokesperson said the early childhood sector was a private market, and provision and location decisions were commercial.
The spokesperson said the Commonwealth helped improve access through the Community Child Care Fund – and the island's service had received close to $495,000 since 2018.
The latest budget included $72.4 million for early childhood education and care training, which would support retention and professional development, particularly in regional and remote communities, the spokesperson said.
Tasmanian Education Minister Roger Jaensch said early childhood was not a state responsibility, but the Department of Education would continue working with the council and the school while the federal budget measures were being rolled out.
"The Department of Education has a long-standing set of co-location arrangements where schools, or child and family learning centres, can be used by private providers for early childhood education and care service provision — where that provision is in accordance with relevant legislation," he said.
