On September 1 the subsidy rate for out-of-school child care increased. …

The increase will affect an estimated 13,300 children and 10,000 families. Families who currently receive the subsidy do not have to reapply to get the increased amount.

"It's very good news, similar to the infant/toddler increase we heard about a few months ago," said Rita Romeo, program coordinator at the East Kootenay Child Care Resource and Referral (EK CCRR). "It's interesting that all of a sudden subsidy is going up now, when some of the other programs, like grants, have been reduced."

Romeo said the news of increased subsidy is good for child care providers and parents. For parents who are unable to find care for their children, the news of the subsidy increase does little for them.

"All the programs are pretty full, there is nothing available right now," Romeo said. "There are only two licensed group facilities that can offer out-of-school care and they are both full and they both have waiting lists.

"Parents are coming in desperate for care and there isn't an option out there," she said.

Adding to the difficulty of there not being enough child care facilities, those that do exist are having difficulty finding and keeping workers.

"We don't have enough people taking the early child care course up at the college, at least in this year, now we're shorthanded in staff, which we already were," Romeo said. "There are people leaving the field because of their age or they're leaving because they've been in it for 25-30 years and it's time for them to do something different and there's not enough people coming into the work force."…