MLA tackling 'patchwork' care
Vancouver Island News Group -- Comox Valley Record
March 21, 2008

The Comox Valley Child Development Association in Courtenay offers a variety of valuable support programs for local children before they reach school age and beyond.

But centres like this are struggling in B.C. due to lack of stable funding and staff, and North Island MLA Claire Trevena is hoping to find solutions.

Trevena, the NDP's child care critic, toured the Comox Valley Child Development Association (CVCDA) and spoke with child care advocates Thursday as part of her provincewide Raising B.C. tour.

"It's imperative to hear what does work in communities and to hear what doesn't work in communities and bring together that patchwork (of services)," she said….

In 20 years in the Valley, Susan Macdonald, an occupational therapist at the CVCDA, has seen a big downward shift in the availability of day care.

"For families with children with special needs, it's even more challenging," added Lorraine Aitken, the provincial adviser for the supported child development program.

A lack of stable funding, space and staff to work in those spaces is challenging the child care sector, Macdonald and Aitken told Trevena….

The association has huge wait lists for therapy, said Macdonald, noting the wait is at least six months.

The longer they wait to get children in their programs, the more risk there is of children missing the opportunity to take advantage of their services, said Aitken.

…. Ensuring there is stable funding to meet the community's needs and increasing wages to keep qualified staff in the field are key, she [Trevena] said.