Parents face day care dilemma
By Jennifer Smith
Kelowna Capital News
January 27, 2008

Forget volatile stock markets and national labour shortages — if there’s one thing threatening the ability for many Kelowna residents to work, it’s the lack of child care.

With demand for day care space becoming a major recruitment and retention issue, the City of Kelowna says it’s willing to look at providing paid day care for city workers….

Truth be told, Colleen Werrell would rather not leave her son at any day care.

But discovering there is no day care where she can leave the active 13-month-old is pretty scary.

“I know friends of mine who work regular nine-to-five jobs who had spots reserved before their babies were born,” said the Glenrosa mom.

Both Werrell and her husband are RCMP officers and their problem is remarkable in that it is so very typical.

The pair transferred to Kelowna from the Yukon when Colleen was already seven months pregnant … the Werrells logically assumed they could find day care.

As her maternity leave drew to a close, the Werrells placed advertisements on Castanet and on the Kelowna Child Care Resource and Referral bulletin. That was in March.

“I got no responses,” she recalled. “I posted it again at the end of August looking for a part-time nanny, varying days, negotiable wages. I think after the second posting, I got two responses and neither one worked out.”

It’s a common problem at the detachment and one the city is worried could deter workers at a time when the local workforce needs them the most.

Like firefighters and nurses, and even the people who clean the city’s roads, their shifts aren’t nine to five. They need 12-hour shifts covered on rotating schedules.

Day cares require parents to block time—like Monday, Wednesday, Friday or the first two days of the week—and in the case of the Werrells, neither parent can say where their rotation will occur.

Lynn Burgat of Kelowna Child Care Society has heard it all before. In fact, she hears it over and over again….

Last year the Kelowna Child Care Society took calls from 880 parents just looking for day care for infants or toddlers—and that didn’t include the parents who called back.

“If you counted those, you could easily quadruple that number,” she said shaking her head.

Altogether, her databases show 1,758 parents called looking for places where they know their children would be well looked after…. “It’s pretty desperate out there right now,” she added.

The centre is responsible for trying to recruit more child care providers and create more spaces, but Burgat said it’s a tough slog. Spaces are snapped up so quickly, even the vacancies they list on their website are often gone before parents call.

“It’s pretty scary for parents who go on maternity leave and are expecting, or hoping, that they’re going to find infant-toddler care only to find that they’re going to be on a lengthy waiting list,” she said.

She also hears from plenty of parents at their breaking point, parents often don’t want to work, but have to in order to keep pace with the cost of living in Kelowna.

Some are forced to leave jobs they love, but many, more don’t have that option.

They find unlicensed day care, often in situations where no one would feel comfortable leaving their child.

“We get calls from parents every day who are literally sobbing on the phone because they have to go out and work just to maintain,” she said in a recent presentation to the city’s advisory committee on community and women’s issues. “We’re all aware that family, as we know it, has changed dramatically. It is very costly to live in Kelowna.”

The City of Kelowna is looking at developing its own child day care for its workers, such as the staff at city hall and RCMP officers like the Werrells.

When the matter came before city council, the councillors championing the cause on behalf of the women’s advisory committee found a surprising ally in veteran councillor Barrie Clark.

Joking he is more likely to need seniors care than day care, Clark put the child care issue squarely at the top of the news agenda when he said taxpayers should pay for city workers day care, equating it to universal education.

“To those who say I don’t get any benefit because I don’t have any children, well that’s true of all the taxpayers that don’t have children in the school system,” he said.

“We accepted years ago that everybody would share the burden of raising and educating children. And I say everybody should accept the burden of educating and raising preschool children to make it possible for the parents to continue their careers and contribute to the city and other businesses.”

The idea did not go over well with some people….

But there are mixed feelings among child care advocates on the concept.

Late in November, the Coalition of Childcare Advocates of B.C. released its take on the situation in a report titled rEvolution (sic) of Community Controlled Childcare in B.C.

“Basically, the coalition is suggesting that communities take action and control and manage and deliver a child care system,” said Crystal Janes, a board member with the 20-year old group.

In October, the provincial government announced it would invest $12.5 million in a “substantial” new grant program available for both non-profit and private for-profit corporations to try to bolster the number of actual day care spaces.

Opening those public funds up to private enterprise marks a sharp change in long-standing public policy, Janes said, and the coalition and national advocates like Code Blue for Childcare are dead set against the move.

“It’s society’s responsibility to care for all of the children, not just their workers’ children,” she said.

“I think we have to look at this issue from the bigger picture.”

The organization doesn’t have a problem with small cottage-industry day cares that are run out of peoples’ homes, nor is it particularly against on-site employee day cares.

The problem is that it isn’t creating a larger system, Janes said.

She likens child care to basic amenities such as public libraries.

“Although it might not be the best library, or the books might not be in the best shape, we assume the books will still be there for everybody to come and borrow,” she said.

“It’s not supporting the worker that’s making $10 an hour … where they’re not likely to put up a day care on-site.”

And the advocates definitely don’t want to see day care centres themselves become corporations.

Last fall day care centres throughout B.C., Alberta and Ontario began receiving queries from “big box day cares” as the corporations are sometimes described.

One Australian provider in particular was going after markets in all three provinces, with offers to buy day care centres…. Janes believes her group “poisoned the well” with a media campaign condemning the company’s practices.

If the companies were allowed to gain a toehold, activist Mab Oloman said the results could be disastrous.

“To their investors (these corporations) promote the fact they use only 50 per cent of their revenue on wages and working conditions,” said Oloman.

“Typically a non-profit organization will use 80 per cent of what it brings in on wages and working conditions.”

The primary method of delivering day care in B.C. is through non-profit centres.

Recruitment and retention of child care workers is one of the most important determinants of quality child care, Oloman said.

Research by Community Action Towards Children’s Health (CATCH), a Kelowna-based research and advocacy coalition, found that locally, wages account for between 66 and 84 per cent of the cost of operating a day care centre….

A private member’s bill was introduced in the House of Commons by Victoria NDP MP Denise Savoie …. The bill is at third reading…. There has been no word yet on when it will be debated.

Meanwhile, as the activists and politicians battle the issue out, Kelowna’s problem continues to grow.

According to CATCH’s figures, Kelowna only has 22 per cent of the licensed day care spots it needs.

Even with non-profit organizations running the show, the average wage for a child care worker is just over $12, with a low of $10.50 and a high of $18 for an early childhood educator with more than five years of employment experience and extensive post-diploma training.

“It’s cost prohibitive,” said Burgat, noting the solution is going to take more money….

Fifteen years ago, when she would host sessions for new parents, one in 25 female parents would be heading back to work. Today, one out of 25 is not.

“That tells you the changes that are going on in this community,” she said.

Add to that the pressures Kelowna’s growing population creates and a new picture emerges….

Research tells us the first six years of a child’s life are critical in terms of their future development, Burgat said.

It’s a concept frequently promoted by CATCH.

For several years the coalition has been researching access to child care in the Okanagan.

Its latest report concludes: “It is much easier and less expensive to provide care and nurturing at an early age than to deal with problems in later years.”

Unfortunately, it then adds: “What is also clear is that we are not currently meeting the needs of children and their caregivers in the Central Okanagan.”

There are systems that work, according to the child care advocates.

In Quebec, the $7-a-day day care system is looked at as a shining example of how public funding can be used in Canada.

The advocates from the B.C. Childcare Coalition also point to the publicly-funded system in Denmark where 87 per cent of the local authorities there can guarantee child care, and in New Zealand where the teachers’ trade union pushed for major public investment in early child care, particularly for infants….

 “Child care is the responsibility of everyone.”