Put kids first
Kamloops This Week
Jun 15 2007

B.C.'s child-care system is stretched to the limit, with the greatest impact falling on precisely those it serves - the children.

There is at least a one-year waiting list for centres staffed by qualified early childhood-education employees.

Parents lacking the income, or organizational foresight, often must settle for day-care environments with less capable staff and fewer enrichment opportunities.

Some mothers and fathers rearrange their work schedules to accommodate day-care hours. Others add hours to their commute to drive their children to centres in other neighbourhoods or even other communities.

Parents who move to a new city with young children are also losers in the current child-care game -- they are at the bottom of the wait-list and often lack the resources of family and friends to look after their children.

Child care should not be a two-tiered system.

Under the current structure, listing child-care services with the Ministry of Children and Family Development is optional, only includes facilities that receive government funding and is updated sporadically.

The provincial government needs to create an umbrella organization to compile a complete, accurate and regularly updated list of all available child care spaces in each community, that includes licenced centres and home-based care, as well as spaces in residences where parents are caring for one or two children other than their own.

Then the remaining critical issue is the total number of available child care spaces. In Surrey, for example, it has been suggested the demand is 10 times greater than the present supply. It's an old refrain, but this must be a funding priority.

The Conservative government's new tax incentive for workplaces that create new on-site child-care spaces for their employees is a step in the right direction.

Meanwhile, parents also need to take responsibility for the care of their children. The benefits of additional income that come with having a second parent in the workforce must be weighed against the consequences of placing children in facilities that may not motivate learning and development.

Ultimately, however, when the tough choices have been made, all of B.C.'s children deserve a good start in life, and part of that is a safe, clean and stimulating environment during their crucial early years.