Childcare void creates LOCAL crisis
Nelson Daily News
5 Jun 2006
By: Sara Newham
EXCERPT

Fiona and Angus Glass have a child care crisis on their hands. Their current child care provider has recently told them she will be moving and as of June 30, the couple has no one to take care of their four-year-old son.

"When we found out that our daycare was closing, aside from the emotional disappointment, my brain immediately switched into -- what do we do now," said Fiona Glass. "I need part-time daycare until he starts school and obviously it can't just be any old place because this is my child."

Glass, who lives on the North Shore and runs a home-based business with her husband, said that there are no childcare options out there. She explained that she -- like other parents -- is looking for a place that offers the same kind of affordable, flexible, quality care to which she and her children have grown accustomed.

"Even in town there's a crunch on quality spaces and all we've been able to secure so far is to get on the waiting list for our first choice of new daycare. I don't know where my son will be and what choices we'll have come September which is a very busy time for my business," she said, adding that she will not find out if her son has a place until the end of July.

The Glass family is not alone.

According to Kim Adamson, the West Kootenay coordinator for Children First and Success by Six, there are no spaces at her program and the child care resources and referral program at the Family Place have no spaces to which to refer parents to.

"There are a number of licensed daycare providers that are closing down for different reasons. Some are moving and some have decided the work is too difficult and they've decided this isn't the career they're going to pursue any longer," Adamson said. "There's a huge void right now and parents are just desperate."

Adamson attributes the childcare crunch to a number of factors. She said it started in 2003 when a number of centres had to close down. She explained that a lot of early childhood educators have had to leave because they are not able to earn a living. Adamson said that no benefits or pension and low wages - they earn between $10 and $13 an hour - mean that childcare centres have difficulty finding and retaining qualified staff.

"We need to build more spaces but those spaces need to have operating funds so that they're sustainable and we need to identify a fair wage for early childhood educators and make sure the operating funds address that," she said.

At present, there are five licensed childcare facilities in the Nelson area. However, one of those licensed facilities will close soon. Although there are a few additional outside town, in Nelson there are four family daycares where a licence is not required. These latter childcare facilities take up to two children in each home.

All this leads to a big gap in the childcare market and that puts the pressure on parents to phone much earlier to get their child's name on a waiting list.

"We're finding that they're doing it earlier and earlier," said Colleen Pickerell, a resource and referral worker for West Kootenay Childcare Resource and Referral. "We've even had people call while they're pregnant and there's been numerous calls for people in January. [The parents] knows that there's not much out there so they're looking much earlier than they used to in Nelson."

This creates an anxious situation for parents like Glass or Balfour mom Kris Huiberts. Huiberts works in Nelson and is having a hard time figuring after-school care for her two children when her current childcare provider retires.

"I'm in crisis zone right now because I don't have anything for September. My son is in Grade 2 so he's seven and my daughter will be starting Kindergarten so she's five," said Huiberts. "I have some friends and family, but the Harrop ferry here would take so much time traveling back and forth to my mother-in-law's place that by the time I get home, it would be 7 o'clock."

When asked if she considered quitting her job if she could not find childcare for her children, Huiberts said that would be a last resort.

Huiberts -- whose mother, ironically, runs a family daycare in Blewett -- said she would like to see a daycare run from Redfish School so children would not have to leave the school and parents could just come and pick them up.

"I would like to see a full day-care provided. If somebody could step up to the plate and run something from Redfish School, it would benefit people so much," she stated.

It seems that one of the problems - even with family-run childcare - is that the process of licensing is so rigourous that it can appear daunting.

According to one childcare provider quitting the field, anyone wishing to open a licensed facility must ensure they meet numerous safety, supervision, and equipment regulations. Childcare providers, for example, must always supervise the children and must ensure they have beds stored in a certain way and they have washable covers. This woman, who asked not to be named, said that after two years, she found that it was very isolating but encourages younger people to enter the field.

Childcare providers are frustrated that the Conservative government has decided to end the previous government's childcare deal with the provinces that would have seen B.C. receive $633 million in funding to improve childcare and early learning services.

To that end, a group of concerned parents submitted a petition that B.C. Southern Interior MP Alex Altamanenko presented to Parliament June 9. On June 22, Children First is hosting the first Early Childhood Devleopment (ECD) Regional Planning Forum. The forum will allow community leaders, decision makers, early childhood practitioners, health and education leaders, and others an opportunity to meet and set the strategic direction for services and supports for young children and their families. ...