Child care resources disappear this year
The Tri-City News
By Diane Strandberg
Jan 24 2007

Finding child care and applying for subsidies will become more difficult for working parents starting this spring, and by September they'll have no place to go at all for child care advice.

Tri-Cities Child Care Resource and Referral Centre will be reducing its hours this spring and will close Sept. 30 because of provincial funding cuts, according to program director Claire Murphy.

The local YMCA Child Care Resource and Referral Centre is one of 44 across the province facing closure in the next two to nine months because of a 77% cut in funding, Murphy said. The Tri-City centre will be reducing its hours this spring and will have to start cutting back on programs, including training for caregivers whose programs are unlicensed but are still regulated.

"I don't think that people understand we will be gone," said Murphy.

Letters are going out to parents and caregivers informing them of the change and the Coalition of Child Care Advocates is mounting a publicity campaign to raise awareness, Murphy said.

According to the letter, thousands of people used the services offered by YMCA Child Care Resource and Referral Centres last year, including: 4,157 families who got help with their child care or subsidy applications; 1,854 parents and child care providers who attended training programs; and 2,077 parents and child care providers who accessed resources through the toy and resource lending libraries. Child care resource and referral centres across the province handled 24,600 consultations and 5,847 parents and caregivers attended Family Resource Programs.

In addition to the cuts facing the child care resource and referral centres, Murphy said parents will be paying more for daycare.

That's because Minister of State for Child Care Linda Reid has announced several funding reductions in response to the cancellation of the federal Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) agreement, which would have provided $455 million over the next three years.

Families earning $38,000 or less will still be eligible for subsidies [for children under 6 years] and children with special needs will get support through the Supported Child Development Program. But operational funding for licensed and group day cares will be scaled back to pre ELCC-rates amounting to a loss in funding of $2 a day per child or $40 a month beginning July 1. The money is supposed to be made up by the $100 monthly Universal Child Care Benefit paid to parents for each child under the age of six. But Murphy said the hikes will still come as a surprise to many who have already absorbed the cash into their budget.

The government has also placed a cap on operational funding and is holding back on providing funds for new daycare centres.

Murphy said she didn't expect a cut in funding because only last year the centres started handling child care subsidy applications and she was given a budget for relocating in June from the Riverview Hospital grounds to a storefront office on Austin Avenue.

"They are dismantling the infrastructure they just built," said Murphy. Some 14 employees work at the local branch, with offices in Coquitlam, Burnaby and New Westminster.