Day care employees do care
Vancouver Island News Group -- North Island Gazette
21 Jun 2007

Letters -- Leighann Ruel
Huckleberry House Children's Center

Dear editor:

I am writing this in response to comments made by the Infant Development Coordinator, in the North Island Gazette.

I am sure that I speak for many North Island Child Care programs when I say great offence has been taken to the accusation that daycares are neither up for the challenge nor want to have children with special needs.

This information is completely unfounded and not true.

Child care programs on the North Island would and do open our doors wide to children with special needs and provide inclusive child care programs, as has been the case for years.

Unfortunately, many of the centers are non profit or small family child care centers that cannot afford to absorb the additional cost of special needs child care, and what little financial supplement available to families is not enough to cover child care expenses for a child with special needs. Many children require one to one support.

Our center has never turned away a child who requires extra support, and has even absorbed the cost of providing a support worker when none could be provided.

For families who require support for their children, I agree there is an issue. Waiting lists for families trying to access support programs is very long, due to a chronic lack of funding and a shortage of suitable people to work with the children. Parents are frustrated, I agree, but this is not a daycare issue.

Child care providers on the North Island are an extremely dedicated group of individuals running quality programming for children. Professionals working in government funded support programs should be working with the care providers, not against them, to provide the support needed to allow children and families access to inclusive child care that already exists in our communities.