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Angry parents are fighting a Melbourne council's decision to permanently shut childcare centres just before Christmas.
More than 100 parents and children are expected to rally outside the Glen Eira Council building this evening in a bid to keep open their local early learning centres.
The council announced in October it would be shutting down three early learning centres - Caufield, Carnegie and Murrumbeena Early Learning Centres - four days before Christmas.
But after opposition from the community, it has decided to take public feedback before it makes a final decision on closing the centres.
Mother-of-two Emiko Hunt has told 9News she was hoping to increase the number of days she sent her children to childcare.
Now she says might not have anywhere to send them.
"It will mean that I can't return to work next year," she told 9News.
Parents advocating for the centres to stay open say the decision came entirely out of the blue.
"Some of the staff have been there 10, 20 years, so there is like very low turnover of staff," mother Marzia Rossetto said.
The local council cited running costs and an increase of private providers as factors for the decision, but parents struggling to find a place for their children at other centres disagree.
"The council tells us there is all these centres with all this availability but the reality is these centres aren't running at full capacity because they don't have the staff," mother Megan Lyell said.
Glen Eira councils says the number of childcare places in Glen Eira has doubled since 2010, increasing from 3966 places to 5731 places since 2019.
While closing the three proposed centres would lead to 35 staff members losing their jobs, the council has the centres are expected to run at a loss of at least $570,000 each year.
The Glen Eira mayor Jim Magee is standing by the council's plans to close the centres.
"I understand it's very challenging, and that people are genuinely worried. I'd be the same," he told 9News.
"These centres are valuable educators are valuable, and the families really loved them, but as counsellors that nine of us have a responsibility to the fullest city, not just these three centres."
While council will meet this evening and answer questions from families, a final decision won't be made until next month.