Funding cuts put programs on the brink
CHILD CARE
Jan. 12, 2007
Sunshine Coast Reporter
By Christine Wood/Staff Writer

A recent funding cut announced by the province leaves local child care resource and referral (CCRR) programs expecting to close within the year.

The closure would mean a loss of all the functions the CCRR now performs, including registering daycares, helping child care providers start and maintain quality child care facilities, providing child care referrals for parents, supporting parents and caregivers with an extensive toy and resource lending library, art supplies, networking and workshops, helping families fill out child care subsidy packages and providing a general hub for child care workers and families with children under the age of six.

"It seems the writing's on the wall. There won't be enough funding to continue with the programs in Sechelt, Gibsons or Pender Harbour," said Vicki Dobbyn, executive director for Sunshine Coast Community Services, in an interview with Coast Reporter.

The recent announcement means the 46 CCRRs in the province will have their total funding slashed from $14 million to just $3 million by Oct. 1, 2007.

"We will then be left to scramble for that bit of money left over and forced to fight against one another for it," Dobbyn said, adding the CCRR programs will likely be regionalized and replaced with a website that is "totally inadequate to service the needs of parents and caregivers on the Sunshine Coast."

A press release from Minister of State Linda Reid said the money that was earmarked for CCRRs will go toward sustaining "the investments that support vulnerable children and families," in the next fiscal year.

Five million dollars of the funding cut comes from the federal government's elimination of the early learning and child care agreement. The government opted to instead flow money directly to parents through the universal child care benefit.

Dobbyn said the local CCRR was prepared to have the provincial funding decrease by that amount, but the recent announcement to cut another $6 million from the provincial CCRR budget is "totally unexpected."

"Slashing funds to support quality child care is in direct contradiction to the province's own early childhood development research, conducted by the human early learning partnership faculty at UBC. This research shows that what decreases vulnerability in children and what increases their school readiness is strong family relations and exposure to quality child care and preschool experiences. There is a child care crisis in our province, and our government is ignoring its own research by eliminating the lifeline that is CCRR programs," Dobbyn said.

The Sunshine Coast CCRR plans to hold a rally on Monday, Jan. 22, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse to further educate the public on the cuts and what they will mean locally. They also hope to spur people on to raise the issue with Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons and to write letters to the provincial government protesting the cuts. Children are welcome to attend the meeting with their parents.

If you would like more information but are unable to attend the rally, contact the Sunshine Coast CCRR at 604-885-5657.

The CCRR also plans to highlight the issue in their upcoming newsletter that will go out to over 300 households now registered with the program.