Work. Family. Life.

The long, long waiting game for child care spaces

After fielding a call today from a corporate client with an employee who was desperate to find child care I came across this article by Shannon Proudfoot.  Certainly, there is no new news here...but it does reinforce the desperate situation that many parents are finding themselves in. 

When word got out that five daycare spots were opening up at a local community centre, parents in Richmond, B.C. camped on sidewalks for days. In Winnipeg, a childcare centre had to issue a memo warning parents to stop pestering and bribing staff.

Elsewhere across the country, a worsening shortage of daycare spots is pushing parents make obsessive phone calls, and even going as far, according to one daycare professional, as to bring relatives from their home countries on temporary visas to care for children or time second pregnancies to take advantage of sibling wait-list policies.

"When we see parents reacting really strongly, we know it's from a place of great anxiety, and that desperation is pushing them to extremes," says Bev Christian, assistant director of the University of British Columbia Child Care Services.

May is child care month in British Columbia.  Certainly there are initiatives happening within the Province to support the development of new child care spaces, however I continue to wonder and worry how about the long term sustainability of many of BC's child care programs.  Parent fees often don't cover the true cost of child care and the sector is still recovering from the reductions in funding under the Child Care Operating Funding Program. This, combined with a lack of affordable places to operate quality programs, a shortage of trained early childhood educators and constant public policy changes are making for the perfect storm within the sector.

We are experiencing a critical shortage of trained early childhood educators in BC and across Canada.  It is the norm for child care facilities to seek licensing exemptions in many areas of BC to deal with the staffing problems they are facing. Several other Provinces are providing higher wage enhancement subsidies and innovative programs in an effort to attract and retain their early childhood educators.  Alberta is an excellent example of a Province that is really making great strides in this area.  I wonder how many ECE's we in BC are losing to Alberta?

Fees for child care programs and services only seem to be getting higher each year.  For many families the cost of purchasing child care for multiple young children often far exceeds their monthly housing costs.  (Which says a lot in BC, where the cost of real estate and affordable housing is among the highest in Canada.) Further, the long waiting lists that parents face to access quality programs in many communities is at an all time crisis point.  It is possible, that in some areas of the Lower Mainland of BC, families who are on waiting lists for infant and toddler child care will never actually secure a child care space. 

So the question is, where do these children go?  What does a parent do when they cannot find child care? There are many answers to this.  Parents face tough decisions everyday as they struggle to secure affordable, quality and accessible child care.  In many cases these children end up being cared for in unlicensed, informal care settings.  Some of this care is quality, but much of it is also not.  In many cases, mothers (and sometimes fathers) decide that they are unable to return to the workforce until their children are older and enter the school system.  While in some cases this is an acceptable solution, in other situations it puts families under increased financial pressure due to the loss of income they experience by having one parent stay home.  Further, skilled employees who don't return to work are a true loss for employers who are facing an ever increasing shortage of workers to choose from.

The solution?  The solutions that are needed to address this true crises are both long and varied.  There are pros and cons to every possible option.  Skilled advocates will argue that universal child care is the answer, others will suggest that better tax benefits for stay at home parents are the solution.  Moving three, four and five year olds into all day school based programs also seems to be an option up for much discussion these days.  All of these options (and many more) are possible solutions.  Most of all though, I believe that what we need is strong, ongoing and committed investment in children and families by all levels of government, communities and employers.  No one organization, entity or solution can truly fix this situation.  The fact of the matter is that we all have a part to play...so let's get on with it.  It truly does make good economic sense.  Further, it really is about so much more than child care.  It is about ensuring we as a society can sustain our health, wellbeing and economic strengths for the future generations yet to come. 

So call your MLA and remind them that while May is Child Care Month in BC, we must also pay attention to it the other eleven months of the year as well.

New online resource explores public vs. private child care debate

Here is a new online research resource from the Child Care Resource and Research Unit

For more than 30 years, the question “who should own child care?” has been an important issue in the Canadian early childhood field. While the issue of for-profit child care has long been part of the Canadian child care debate, it was recently thrown into sharp focus when a multi-billion dollar Australian child care conglomerate moved in intending to acquire centres in Canada. While much of one focus has been on “big-box” child care, it has become apparent that the issue is a fundamental one about whether early childhood education and care should be a product (like shoes, chocolate or cars) to be marketed to parents as customers or should it be a public good like elementary education, guaranteeing access as a right and fundamental to how the society organizes itself.

The aim of this project is to gather and develop resources to inform and encourage Canadian dialogue on the important public policy issue of privatized child care. To this end, CRRU has gathered pertinent documents available online and in print and has developed a comprehensive bibliography of key research. The project will be ongoing and the website will be updated on a regular basis. Subscribers to CRRU’s weekly e-broadcast will be informed of new additions.

Yet another change to the age of entry in PEI

From The Guardian

The age of entry requirement for children entering Grade 1 will once again be pushed back, Premier Robert Ghuz said in the legislature Thursday. Previously, children were required to be six years old by Aug. 31 to start Grade 1. But this date was abruptly changed to Oct. 31, in March. This change is effective for the beginning in the 2008-2009 school year. Now, government is saying it will be pushed back again to Dec 31 - and that this had been the plan all along.

"We do want to move it to Dec. 31, I'll be the first person to stand up and admit it," Ghiz said when questioned about whether there were more changes coming by Opposition Leader Olive Crane.

"I believe there was a mistake made when we moved back to an earlier date, Madame Speaker, where the other provinces maintained at the Dec. 31 date," Ghiz said.

When the first change was made to the age of  entry date in March, it sparked considerable consternation from the early childhood education sector. The change meant that approximately 250 children who will turn six before Oct. 31 were suddenly eligible to enter elementary school in the fall - but these children had not been enrolled in a kindergarten program this year. A kindergarten readiness program was hastily developed to give these children some foundation in kindergarten curriculum. But the biggest complaint from educators, parents and early learning educators across the province was that they had never been informed the change was coming.

Crane asked the premier if he would promise to consult with these and other stakeholders before making another change. Ghiz said he would. "we're going to make sure that when we make the next change we're going to sit down and do it in an effective manner," he said. "Whether or not it will be taking place with the kindergarten system - we'll make sure that we give our school system plenty of notice.  Crane pointed to the effect these kinds of changes can have on parents, educators, early childhood educators and other stakeholders.
"It causes terrific hardship to families trying to adjust to this when their children have to go to school." Ghiz  said it was his government's plan all along to change the school entry age back to Dec 31, as it had been several years ago - but was worried about the backlash. "We would have liked to do this all at one time but of course it would create too much controversy within the school  ystem, too many new kids going into Grade 1." Education Minister Gerard Greenan said this change will not be in effect for the 2008-2009 school year, but said it could be for following year and that announcements would be made with ample time for preparation.

Public kindergarten commissioner appointed for Prince Edward Island

Was a little delayed in getting this posted...never the less it is still an important update for those who have been following this issue in Prince Edward Island. 

May 6, 2008 - CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI -- Premier Robert Ghiz and Gerard Greenan, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development announced today that Patricia Mella has been appointed Public Kindergarten Commissioner.

As Commissioner, Ms. Mella will carry out her work over the coming year, submitting her report in June 2009. This report shall set out a vision and goals for the kindergarten program and shall recommend a detailed action plan to move kindergarten into the school system by September 2010.

Issues addressed in the report will range from the delivery model and curriculum to credentials for instructors and sensitively addressing the impacts on existing early childhood educators.

“Our goal is to create the best kindergarten system possible for Islanders,” said Premier Ghiz. “I am delighted that Ms. Mella has agreed to take up this challenge. I am confident that Island families and communities and those professionally involved in early childhood education will benefit greatly from her findings and recommendations.”

“I look forward to strategic direction and action plan that Ms. Mella will bring forward as Commissioner,” said Minister Greenan. “I look forward to the input from stakeholders and the general public, as we continue to strengthen our public education system.”

BACKGROUNDER

PUBLIC KINDERGARTEN COMMISSIONER

TERMS OF REFERENCE

On April 4, 2008, in the Speech from the Throne, the Province announced its intention to bring Prince Edward Island’s kindergarten system into the public school system. It pledged to achieve this goal within its current term of office, following a thorough, careful, and sensitive consultation process. As well, the Speech from the Throne announced the move of responsibility for early childhood development from the Department of Social Services and Seniors to a new Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

These initiatives offer an opportunity to create the best kindergarten system possible for Islanders – guided by the wealth of recent research knowledge about the early childhood years, and building on the strengths of our existing community-based system and our public school system to capture the best of both worlds. Rigorous study and extensive public engagement is vital to ensure that the full potential of this opportunity is realized, and that the future of every Island child is changed for the better. This work should yield a plan for an orderly transition to the new integrated model that maximizes opportunity and ensures fairness for all involved.

Accordingly, the Government has appointed a Commissioner to oversee this important task. The Commissioner will carry out her work over the coming year, submitting her Report in June 2009. This Report shall set out a vision and goals for the kindergarten program to guide the Province in addressing the full range of issues, including but not limited to those outlined below, and shall recommend a detailed action plan to move kindergarten into the school system by September 2010.

Issues to be addressed include:

• Delivery model: Assess various models of full-day and half-day kindergarten to identify the model that provides an optimal combination of learning outcomes, access, and family strengthening. This assessment will include a consideration as to whether such a program should be mandatory.

• Curriculum: Ensure appropriate kindergarten curriculum is in place using play-based strategies to achieve defined learning outcomes.

• Impacts: Examine implications for existing early childhood education providers and how those can be mitigated.

• Personnel: Define appropriate credentials and licensing requirements for the new kindergarten system; training and bridging systems for existing kindergarten teachers; early childhood training opportunities for existing teachers in the 1-12 system; consequential training needs for staff in the early learning and child care sector.

• Logistics: Integrate kindergarten spaces into schools in the larger context of a rationalization and renewal of educational facilities to address declining enrolment; consider transportation questions.

• Linkages: Integrate the public school kindergarten system with the pre-kindergarten early childhood system, and recommend measures to strengthen those systems as warranted.

• Legislation: Identify necessary legislative changes.

The Commissioner shall develop her own detailed work plan and time frames, as her first task. It is expected that this work will include, although not be limited to, the following elements:

• Review the available literature on early childhood development and learning.

• Carry out an initial stakeholder engagement process, including:

o interviews with key informants throughout the early childhood and public school systems and among community and other stakeholders to initially identify and define the key issues;

o stakeholder focus groups to refine and explore those issues;

o advisory groups to solicit expert input.

• Conduct additional research to investigate the issues identified, and to identify options and best practices, including as deemed necessary:

o further literature review;

o contracting of specific issues to selected experts;

o site visits to other jurisdictions.

• Produce a discussion document outlining the issues, findings, and potential approaches.

• Carry out extensive further public engagement through various processes to be determined, to refine the recommended approach and to build awareness and support.

• Prepare a final report recommending a vision, goals, strategic directions, and action plan.

The Commissioner shall be provided with research support by Executive Council Office, to include a Research Director, and other resources as required by the work plan.

This week in child care...

From a May 10, 2008 article in the Globe and Mail...

Bribes, threats, tears - child-care directors say these are some of the increasingly desperate tactics parents are using in an effort to get their children into daycare as waiting lists grow to unprecedented lengths.

From a May 12, 2008 CBC story....

A report prepared for the Toronto children's services division charges that commercial daycares provide significantly poorer quality care than non-profit centres.

From a CCABC media release, May 15, 2008...

In other provinces, governments have taken measures to address the child care crisis. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta have all recently announced increased child care wages through wage supplements. Early childhood educators in Alberta will earn up to $20.82 an hour. But here in BC, the government still has no plan to increase wages for early childhood educators.

Oh my goodness....

May 14, 2008 - VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- An immigrant family left a 23-month-old boy in the Vancouver airport and learned he was missing only when contacted during the next leg of the trip.

Jun Parreno, the boy's father, told The Vancouver Sun the mix-up occurred Monday as he, his wife and two grandparents of the child, J.M., were scrambling between their arrival in Canada and a connecting flight to Winnipeg on Air Canada.

Running late after having to unpack and repack all their luggage, "we had 10 minutes before boarding," said Parreno, who was emigrating with his family from the Philippines. "We were running for the gate."

He said he thought his son was with the three other adults, who were running to the gate ahead of him, and they thought the little boy was with him.

Instead, in a scenario similar to the movie "Home Alone," the toddler was wandering alone between a security checkpoint and the flight gates, said Angela Mah, an Air Canada representative.

"We were called by [security] who told us one of the security people had a toddler in tow," Mah said. "He doesn't speak English, so we found a Tagalog-speaking agent who has been looking after him."

There was no boarding pass for the youngster because he did not have a separately assigned seat, so there was no indication in the airline's computer system that someone had missed a flight, nor had there been any panicked calls from anyone on a flight missing a child, Mah said.

That's because the family was scattered in different parts of the plane to Winnipeg and still didn't know the child had been left.

Air Canada staff began checking flights that had left, and "we eventually determined who his parents might be ... and the flight crew talked to them," Mah said. "They didn't realize until then that the baby had been left behind.

"We're not aware of this ever happening on an Air Canada flight before."

The parents were put into telephone contact with the little boy, and Parreno was put on another Air Canada plane to return to Vancouver to get him after the family's flight arrived in Winnipeg, with the airline covering the cost of the two additional flights, she said.

Parreno had tears in his eyes when he returned to Winnipeg holding his son.

"I am relieved everything is OK ... but I was shocked," he said. "The staff at Air Canada took good care of him."

Canada's Top 100 Employers - Applications Welcome Now

Applications are now available for the 2009 Canada's Top 100 Employers project. Now in its 9th year, the annual competition recognizes the companies and organizations across Canada that lead their industries in providing exceptional places to work. The competition is open to all employers - large or small, public-sector or private - that offer innovative programs to attract and keep talented employees. Employers are compared to others in their industry and the winners are announced in a special issue of Maclean's magazine each October. The competition is managed by Mediacorp Canada Inc., which publishes detailed reasons for each employer's selection on its popular job search engine Eluta.ca.

To determine the winners, Mediacorp editors evaluate each applicant on eight key criteria: (1) Physical Workplace; (2) Work Atmosphere & Social; (3) Health, Financial & Family Benefits; (4) Vacation & Time Off; (5) Employee Communications; (6) Employee Engagement; (7) Training & Skills Development; and (8) Community Involvement.

Employers complete a single application to be considered for the Canada's Top 100 Employers competition, as well as 18 other regional and special-interest "top employer" competitions Mediacorp manages with a variety of partners. Winners of these projects are announced in special editorial supplements published by 22 newspapers and magazines across Canada, beginning in October.

Completed applications are due June 30, 2008. To obtain a copy of the 2009 application, please visit: http://www.CanadasTop100.com/apply

For further information:
Richard Yerema, Managing Editor,
Canada's Top 100 Employers
Mediacorp Canada Inc.
416-964-6069

2200 new child care spaces for BC

The Province of BC has announced how the 12.5 million dollars in capital funding (announced last fall) for the development of new child care spaces in BC will be allocated.  This announcement was made as part of the May is Child Care Month Campaign.

City of Nelson, BC Looking at Child Care in City Hall

From KBS Radio:

Nelson City council is taking a proactive approach to addressing a major problem affecting the community. Not usually viewed as a municipal responsibility, the city is exploring the possibility of setting up child care services in vacant part of city hall. The idea is still in the infant stages being looked at, and right now Mayor John Dooley says can't say how the  initiative would be paid for. Dooley says the service would be made available to parents who work for I-H-A, BC Government, City of Nelson. He says the service would help attract and retain new employees.

Child Care Design Guidelines Dropped in Vancouver

From Today's Province Newspaper

A bitter battle over childcare ended yesterday with the NPA-dominated Vancouver city council axing the city's 15-year-old Childcare Design Guidelines in favour of lowering regulations to provincial standards.

A report from the director of social planning recommended council establish an appeal mechanism that would maintain the current guidelines while allowing some buildings to be retrofitted for daycare spaces in neighbourhoods where those guidelines can't be met.

The report cited international studies that found Canada's quality of childcare is lower than in most other developed countries, with Vancouver's guidelines an exception.

The key difference between the city's and province's standards is the visibility of green space from childcare facilities, a prerequisite for daycare zoning in Vancouver that led to a lease loss for a prospective Yaletown childcare provider over a year ago.

But some on council cited the Yaletown case as an example of Vancouver's tougher zoning bylaws, forcing would-be inner-city providers out of Vancouver, contributing to the city's already dismal wait-list problem.

"What we want is to have certainty for [daycare-provider] applicants so that parents have certainty of daycare space before they're clapping at their children's graduation," said NPA Coun. Kim Capri.

Civic opposition parties Vision Vancouver and COPE supported the staff recommendation for the formation of an exemption-granting committee, while still aiming to uphold the city's historically more stringent standards.

But following an angry debate, the NPA defeated the recommendation 6-5.

The NPA then voted to do nothing for at least a year about Vision Coun.

Raymond Louie's motion to have studies done assessing childcare needs in Vancouver, how to achieve a five-per-cent drop in spaces and how to develop a centralized wait list for spaces.

kwebb@png.canwest.com