Child care underfunded
Trail Daily Times - Nelson
20 Nov 2006
Opinion - By: Kim Adamson, Children First (Nelson)

Today is National Child Day, an opportunity to bring to light a growing concern in our community and across Canada. There is not enough child care to meet the needs of families. Not coincidentally employers are struggling with finding enough employees.

I would like to dispel a myth. No credible Early Childhood Educator (ECE) has ever advocated for an "institutional, state-run" child care system. Ever! We believe at our very core that families should have choice, choice to stay at home, or go to work. Choices in centre-based or in-home care. Different choices work for different families.

The reasons why there is not enough child care are complex. When you boil it down, the bottom line is that there is not enough funding.

Boiling it down further, government funding is needed to pay ECEs a fair wage. I know, I know . . . the critics will jump up and scream that we don't really care about kids, we just want to pad our wallets. That's an easy out for them.

In fact, the ECEs of this country have been subsidizing your child care through low wages for decades and many are not prepared to do so any more. It's hard work and it's important work. ECEs are leaving the field to find better paying jobs because they, too, need to support their families.

In the West Kootenay, some child-care facilities are not operating to full capacity because they can't find qualified staff. Others are looking at having to reduce their spaces or close.

Colleges report a significant drop in the number of students entering the ECE program.

Increasingly we hear that businesses can't find enough staff. This will get worse as our baby boom generation retires. We also hear of parents leaving their jobs or turning down work because they can't find or lose a child care space.

The federal government is promising to build more spaces by giving businesses incentives to do so. That's great. But once the spaces are built, who is going to look after the kids?

Families of the 21st century need child care. They need to work to support their families, buy a house, and just to get by. At the end of the day, what should matter most is what is best for our kids. Whether you believe in child care or not, the majority of kids in Canada who need it can't get it.

Properly-funded child care, like education, is good for our kids and good for our economy. The time has come. We must create a child care plan that meets the needs of today's families, whatever their choice may be.