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Child-care program pays for itself, Montreal economist says

Laurie Monsebraaten, The Waterloo Record

TORONTO — Governments that say they can’t afford to invest in affordable child care are wrong, says a Montreal economist who is releasing a new analysis of Quebec’s popular $7-a-day program Wednesday.

After 12 years, the Quebec scheme more than pays for itself through mothers’ annual income and consumption taxes, says Pierre Fortin, an economics professor at the University of Quebec at Montreal.

For every dollar Quebec invests, it recoups $1.05 while Ottawa receives a 44-cent windfall, he says.

“The argument can no longer be that governments cannot afford it. This program is paying for itself. It is self-financing. That is the main finding,” says Fortin, who is in Toronto to attend an economic forum on child care at the Ontario Institute for Child Studies.

Quebec introduced publicly-funded all-day kindergarten for 5-year-olds in 1997 with $5-a-day after-school care in every school where families requested it.

It began offering $5-a-day daycare for 4-year-olds in 1998. Each year another age was added and by 2000, all children from birth to age 5 were included. The daily parent fee rose to $7 in 2004. About 50 per cent of children under age 5 are currently enrolled in the program.

By 2008, about 70,000 more women with young children had entered the workforce who would not otherwise have been working, a 3.8 per cent increase, Fortin found. The ripple effect of their employment pumped an additional $5.2 billion into the Quebec economy, boosting the province’s Gross Domestic Product by 1.7 per cent.

The increased economic activity, which includes mothers’ income and consumption taxes, more than covered the province’s $1.6 billion annual child-care costs that year. (The province subsidizes each spot by about $10,000 annually.) And it poured more than $700 million in additional revenue into federal coffers….

Previous cost-benefit studies of Quebec’s $7-a-day daycare looked only at mothers’ income taxes and lower government transfers and pegged the benefits at 40 cents for every dollar spent, Fortin says.

But those studies neglected to include the economic impact of working mothers’ increased purchasing power, including increased consumption taxes, investment and corporate taxes, he says….

Average cost of raising a child in Canada

Daniela Minicucci, Global News

TORONTO – The average cost of raising a child born in 2010 is US$226,920, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In Canada, the figure is slightly lower, according to Tom Drake, an Edmonton-based financial analyst and the owner and head writer for Canadian Finance blog.

According to data by Manitoba Agriculture, Drake estimates the average expenses related to raising a child to 19-years-old is CAD$191,665….

According to Drake’s calculations, the bottom line of an average Canadian family will be greatest hit by child care costs associated with raising a child in the first 12 years.

Accommodation costs like furnishings and other household operations is the next greatest expense, followed by food expenses.

“Interestingly, the data I’ve looked at shows boys eating more groceries, but only $500 total throughout their childhood,” Drake says about the cost difference between raising boys and girls….

“There are many expenses that can be reduced when you have more than one child, especially if they’re the same sex. Everything from furniture to clothing can be handed down,” Drake says….

To see the chart of estimated costs involved with raising a child in Canada. [The figures were compiled from Manitoba Agriculture data and adjusted to reflect inflation in 2011.]

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CLBC funding per-client chopped every year since its creation

Paul Willcocks
http://willcocks.blogspot.com/

The cuts to supports for people with “developmental disabilities” – what we once called the mentally handicapped – are taking a terrible toll. And worse times are ahead.

According to Community Living B.C., the Crown corporation set up to provide services, the amount of funding per client has fallen every year since it was created six years ago.

In 2006/7, the first full year of operation, funding provided an average $51,154 per client. This year, funding will be $45,306. By 2013, according to the government projections, it will be cut to $41,225 per client.

If you factor in inflation, by 2013 the funding available for each client will be 30 per cent less than it was in 2006. (There is a small amount of additional money for a personalized supports initiative; it doesn’t change the reality of the annual cuts.)

The result is damaging. People who have lived in group homes for years, happily and in a family-like setting, are being forced out as homes are closed to save money.

People who once had full lives – supported in jobs and social activities – are now spending all day alone. The supports that involved them in the community, helped them keep jobs and gave them rich lives have been pulled away.

Waiting lists for services are growing and, in many cases, services are just denied. No money, says CLBC….

Teens who have been thriving with effective supports face disaster when they become adults…

But CLBC says it has no money. Jonathan will go on a wait list, with no real chance of getting support.

At the other end of the age spectrum, CLBC reports that people with developmental disabilities are living longer and needing more support as they age.

At the same time, many aging family caregivers, usually parents, can no longer provide as much support and are turning to CLBC.

They are finding the support isn’t there.

That is particularly cruel. All parents worry about their children. But most enter old age knowing that their sons and daughters are launched.

Imagine the anguish in fearing that your death or incapacity will leave your developmentally disabled adult child at risk of exploitation or neglect. Knowing that the efforts you made to help ensure a safe, productive, satisfying life could end in tragedy.

The B.C. Association for Community Living has supported CLBC since its creation and continues to applaud the efforts to provide individualized supports.

But executive director Faith Bodnar says underfunding has reached a critical point. “Insufficient funding to CLBC has meant reacting to crisis only and the real danger of relegating people to lives of isolation and subsistence as their supports and services are cut,” she wrote this month. “For people with developmental disabilities and their families it has created uncertainty, desperation, vulnerability and real suffering as they experience cuts to services or are placed on waitlists without hope.”…

Footnote: CLBC notes that part of the pressure from services comes from the province’s “five great goals,” set by the government in 2005. The third goal called for B.C. to “build the best system of supports for persons with disabilities, those with special needs, children at risk and seniors.” It turns out families believed the government was serious.

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Corporate child care is not the solution for New Brunswick

New Brunswick Times and Transcript and Straight Goods
By Jody Dallaire, involved in the New Brunswick women’s movement and a member of Dieppe City Council and chair of the Dieppe Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunity between Women and Men.

… Bottom line, when I say ‘big business,’ few people think ‘child care’ or ‘early learning’ services.

But big business is setting up shop in the delivery of early learning and child care services in Canada. It used to be that examples of child care conglomerates could only be found abroad. Not anymore.

Currently there are a number of Canadian-based child care chains. One of them is even publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Venture Exchange (TSX-Venture)….

Is corporate child care a bad thing?

Let’s just say that it does not have a good track record. ….

Countries that do child care well, namely where services are widely available, affordable, inclusive and of high quality, have policies that provide for services that are publicly funded and publicly managed. They are also operated on a non-profit or public basis. None of the countries that treat child care as a private business have a track record of equitable access to high quality programs.

Already Canada has a dismal international record on early learning and child care. We cannot afford any costly mistakes. UNICEF, Save the Children and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), all give Canada extremely poor rankings in terms of meeting suggested standards for child care services. Each of these organizations has published reports which place Canada last among developed countries….

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Letter of the day: Column on child care highlighted risks
Published Tuesday May 31st, 2011
Times and Transcript
By Sandy Harding, Saint John

To The Editor:

Regarding “Corporate child care is not the solution” in the Times & Transcript of May 26, kudos to Jody Dallaire for explaining the risks of big business delivering early learning and child care.

When it comes to early learning and child care a public system is best because it is more accessible, more stable, provides higher quality care and pays better wages for workers. There is no place for profit in child care. Child care providers must be beholden to the children and families they care for, not their shareholders.

Quality public and not for profit early learning and care services reduce poverty, increase employment, and stimulate the economy. These programs build strong communities as the services can be planned and be accountable.

In Australia, where there were a large number of corporate operators, the private providers invested about 50 per cent of revenue on staff costs, compared to 75 per cent of revenue in public and not-for-profit centres.

Higher wages result in less staff turnover and greater quality for children and parents – another good reason to keep early learning and child care public.