"I put her on about four or five different waitlists in Orange.

"I got my first and only call back for an availability this Christmas just gone."

She took the offer of one-day-a-week of care for Charlotte, but after receiving a full time job offer three weeks ago, she's been desperately searching for more days, with no luck.

"Luckily (my employers) have been so generous and said they will wait for me to find daycare, but so far all the centres have been full.

"I'm in the vicious cycle at the moment where I want to go back to work but I can't because I don't have daycare."

Samantha Burns has faced similar frustrations accessing childcare in Orange.

The small business owner delayed her move to Orange from Sydney by 18 months to ensure her daughter could get into care, after being told waiting lists at all centres were a year or longer.

A recently released mapping project of childcare availability across Australia shows there are about three children for every daycare place in Orange.

The Mitchell Institute project classifies a "childcare desert" as a populated area where there are more than three children per childcare place, or less than 0.333 places per child aged four or under.

Orange has an average of about 0.35 childcare places per child.

A host of new early childhood education centres were set to open their doors in Orange early this year to meet demand, but have faced delays.

Newstead Early Education on Hill Street, which will offer 90 places, says it had to delay its opening until May due to "challenges during COVID" which have included a pause on construction and the rain.

Rise Early Learning at the Bloomfield Medical Centre precinct on Forest Road, which will offer 155 places, has also faced building disruptions due to the pandemic.

Kiddie Academy says the opening of its centre on Telopea Way, North Orange was also effected by factors including the pandemic.

According to one local childhood educator, staff shortages are also impacting the sector.

"Because of COVID a lot of staff left daycare and went to other jobs and they just didn't come back to daycare," said Happy Feet Childcare Centre owner Jenny Doueihi.

Ms Doueihi said she had been fortunate to retain her long serving staff and was therefore able to keep all rooms open, but that wasn't the case at all centres.

"A lot of staff were laid off and they needed work so they went and got work somewhere else," she said.

To read more stories, download the Central Western Daily news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Send a letter to the editor using the form below: