The first edition of this book was completed shortly after the 1993 federal election. Since then, significant changes have occurred in the provision of children's services in Australia. The private sector is now the dominant provider of centre-based long day care and the program has shifted markedly away from its earlier non-profit, community-based orientation. This transformation began under Labor but has been dramatically intensified by the Coalition government.

The changes which have been made to the children's services program place the continued existence of non-profit, community-based children's services in jeopardy. As this edition goes to press, a survey has been released by the National Association of Community Based Children's Services showing that centres are closing, women are changing from fulltime to part-time work, and children are being moved into informal, unregulated care. Ironically, these developments are occurring under a government which has a higher proportion of women MPs than any previous administration. Yet there seems to be little willingness on the part of Coalition MPs to defend policy areas such as children's services. The Lyons Forum (a group of conservative, pro-family MPs) appears to be far more organised and active than those MPs sympathetic to a broader range of choices for women.

The first edition of this book was subtitled ‘From Philanthropy to Feminism’.