New rules require minimum amount of operator training; Some wonder if changes are too restrictive
Surrey Now
November 23, 2007
By: Marisa Babic

Changes to child-care licensing rules by the provincial government are getting a mixed reaction from local day care operators.

Christine MacLeod has been operating Wee Kids Family Childcare in Surrey for 20 years and she is also a co-ordinator for Kwantlen University College's family childcare certificate program.

MacLeod applauds the new regulations calling for, among other things, a minimum of 20 hours of training for child-care providers before they can be issued a licence to operate.

But she worries that there's nothing in the new rules requiring on-going training.

"If you're going to provide a quality environment you should be current," she said….

Under the new rules, family child-care operators will be able to take in a maximum of seven children, newborn to five years, without having to reserve spaces for infants and school age kids, leaving more space for toddlers and pre-school children.

A new category of licensing, multi-age child care, will allow eight children in a home, up from seven kids, and new ECE grads will be given one-year certificates to work as fully qualified staff upon graduation.

But Shirley Jutras, a child-care operator in south Delta, says providers in her area are concerned that they might not be able to abide by the regulations.

Of the 17 licensed caregivers in the area, only four have their ECE certificates, she says. "Many of us work 12 hours a day and five days per week. We then have our own children that need our time and care. When are we supposed to take this course?"

Reid says parents, child-care providers and professionals were consulted about the changes, but Jutras wonders who they were.

"No one I know in the south Delta areas was asked. You can't tell me that a licensed caregiver in Ladner with 35 years experience raising children and offering day care has less experience than a person that has just graduated the ECE course," she said.

MacLeod says Kwantlen is looking at offering more flexibility to make its family child-care courses meet the licensing requirements.