United they stand for child care
Sunshine Coast Reporter
Jan 26, 2007
Sara Wilson
EXCERPT

Pouring into Gibsons Heritage Playhouse Monday were mothers, fathers and child care providers, all outraged at the provincial government's new legislation surrounding child care in this province....

With the proposed cuts, the Sunshine Coast Child Care Resource and Referral programs (CCRR) will be forced to close their doors, leaving many day care providers without a support system....

The CCRR office in Gibsons will be closing their doors as of April 1, and offices in Sechelt and Madeira Park will also be shutting down effective Sept. 31. With the new funding guidelines, child care operating funding (CCOF) rates will return to the amounts the province allotted prior to the federal child care agreements....

"The cutbacks to the child care operating funds will mean daycares will lose their extra funding, meaning that the parents are going to have to absorb those costs," explained Jan Miettinen-Hart, Sunshine Coast CCRR co-ordinator. "We will be losing community-based programs that provide direct services to child care providers and community members; these cuts will be increasing daycare fees."

In a letter addressed to the child care community, Reid outlined the reasoning for the recent cuts.

"Funding levels for the CCRR will be maintained through the end of the current fiscal year. But again, as a result of the cancellations of the early learning and child care (ELCC) agreement, as of April 1, 2007, the budget for this program will revert to pre-ELCC levels and subsequently will be reduced further in order for the province to sustain the investments that support vulnerable children and families. We will engage in a process of further transition with CCRRs and develop alternative ways of providing services," Reid wrote.

The purpose of the rally, moderated by Dianne Evans, was to encourage members of the public and child care providers to write letters showing their discontent with the funding cuts.

"I really do believe that if everyone who came out tonight writes a letter to their MLA and the provincial government, they will have to listen to our concerns," Dobbyn said. "I'm just bewildered. With all the research the government has funded that showed how important child care is to development, these funding cuts make no sense." ...

With the already long waitlists for child care on the Sunshine Coast and in the rest of B.C. and expected waits to only increase, issues surrounding new mothers returning to work and finding the support they need are being raised.

"We use all the programs the CCRR provides, like parents and tots among others. I'm not too sure if I will be returning to work, but this is definitely going to affect my decision," explained Mandi Geisler, mother of four-month-old Jasper.

"We see many mothers who are seeing their maternity leave coming to an end, and they are desperate. We have to put them on waitlists; some places have an 18-month waitlist. We are already in a child care crisis, and these cuts are only going to make it worse," Dobbyn added....