Regional CCRR programs devastated
Cariboo Press -- Smithers Interior News
06 Jun 2007

Outreach Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) services provided to outlying communities have been cut back due to provincial child care cuts, announced in January.

Effective on April 1, the government reduced the provincial CCRR budget to $9 million from $14 million. In this region, the budget has gone from $1.9 to $1.3 million.

At the Bulkley Valley Child Development Centre (BVCDC), one of the Valley locations CCRR services are delivered, they have scaled back their trips to outlying communities.

"To cover that area with this new budget, we've had to change the way we deliver services to those communities," said BVCDC executive director Kerri Kluss. "It's going to be hard. The frequency of the visits will not be as much but we'll still provide indirect support through our centre here."

The BVCDC provides CCRR services from Atlin in the north to Topley in the east. The budget cuts, coupled with the rising cost of transportation, will mean less frequent visits by the staff to these more rural locations. More than 70,000 kilometres were travelled by CCRR workers delivering services last year.

"We need more funding if we're going to be travelling to these communities," Kluss said.

The hours at the BVCDC have also been scaled back, due to the lower staffing levels -- two CCRR positions have been eliminated since the cuts were announced....