After-care isn't a luxury, it's a necessity; Families struggle to find programs to care for their children after the bell rings
Vancouver Sun
August 30, 2008
By: Denise Ryan

It is less than a week before six-year-old Sacha Goldman starts Grade 1. His mother, Karen Shaw, isn't thinking about new shoes or school supplies or that photo she'll take when he sets off for his first day of grade school.

Instead of celebrating an important rite of passage, she's still trying to figure out which Vancouver public school he'll attend.

Shaw needs to find a school -- preferably within her catchment district -- that can also provide her with affordable, on-site after-care.

Like 70 to 80 per cent of parents in Vancouver, she goes to work each day. After-school care is not a luxury for her family, it is a necessity.

It's not for lack of trying -- she signed on to waiting lists last April. "I don't have a child-care space confirmed anywhere yet," she said.

Shaw was hoping Sacha will get into French immersion …but if she gets the call this week that he's got a space, she may be forced to turn it down. The on-site after-care program at … is full, as are the two other local providers that serve … students.

"My second choice is also dependent on where I can get after-care," she said.

If Shaw can't get Sacha in to French immersion, she'd like him to be in her neighbourhood school, … their …after-care has a waiting list, too.

Lack of space in schools for before- and after-care programs is one of the main reasons children can't be accommodated, according to advocates.

The result in the Metro Vancouver region is long waiting lists and growing frustration for working parents who can't be there when the bell rings.

"Any parent who believes their child-care issues are over once they reach school age had better think again," said Susan Harney, chairwoman of the Coalition of Childcare Advocates of B.C.

After three decades as a child-care advocate, she does not see programs getting better, Harney said. "If anything, they're getting worse."

A dire situation
There is no central organization running Vancouver's school-age before- and after-care programs, fees vary from program to program, running from about $250 a month to $450, and waiting lists are the norm.

According to Vancouver school board spokesman David Weir, 59 Vancouver-area schools lease space to non-profit societies for before- and after-care, and 39 different agencies are involved as service providers. But advocates and parents say it's not nearly enough.

Amy Salmon, a sociologist who works at Vancouver's children's hospital, knows all too well what Shaw is going through.

She spent years "piecing together arrangements," because she was not able to find a school with appropriate after-care for her kids.

When her family moved to Vancouver she enrolled her eldest daughter, Mikaela, in their local school,…. "She was on the wait list for the only program they had at the time, … Neighbourhood House, for three years," said Salmon.

Salmon was forced to negotiate with other moms to pick Mikaela up, and often shifted her work hours. But this left her working late at night after the kids were in bed and on weekends, taking away from family time.

Finally, the family was able to find an after-care program -- but they had to switch Mikaela's school to one on Vancouver's west side, taking her away from friends, and adding hours of commuting time to their day.

By a stroke of luck, this year she was finally able to get Mikaela, now 11, and her five-year-old sister Clara into a program that serves their neighbourhood school.

"Economically, socially, in terms of community, all research points to the fact that a well-funded child-care program in Canada would be beneficial to everyone," said Harney.

"The sad truth is, a lot of eight-year-olds are going home with a key around their neck."

Why is the situation so dire? The answer, Harney believes, is two-fold: a lack of affordable and available space in Vancouver schools, and a focus shift in the provincial and federal governments that categorizes child care as something different from early childhood education.

Harney points out that one of Premier Gordon Campbell's first actions on coming into power in 2001 was to cancel a funding assistance program (FAP) for school-age care, part of a proposed provincial child-care plan that now-NDP leader Carole James had spearheaded under the previous NDP government.

Under the FAP plan, funding was increased, fee caps were introduced and, Harney said, there was a "tremendous uptake of the programs by parents."

Cost for the after-care program was capped at $7 a day, making it affordable and accessible. Space was made available because government was making it a priority.

"People felt hopeful. When they feel hopeful, they buy into the industry," said Harney.

Pam Best of the West Coast Childcare Resource Centre said: "Everybody says they could meet the needs of parents if they had the space."

Spaces in schools that can be allocated for before- and after-care programs is limited, however. Spaces must meet licensing requirements and, according to Best, there is an unwillingness to re-purpose existing classroom space to accommodate kids from waiting lists.

Tyler Summers, who chairs the School Age Childcare Association of B.C., said, "The space is there, the buildings are there. Why can't we use them?
"Our goal is to improve the availability of quality after-school care. Provincial government could create initiatives to allow [more] space within schools."

Summers also points out that fees for use of space in Vancouver schools have increased substantially, increasing the cost of running the programs and fees for parents.

Pam Mahoney, who runs the Henry Hudson Out of School Care program, serving Henry Hudson elementary and kindergarten students, said advocates have appealed to the Vancouver school board to work with provincial government and child-care groups to resolve the issue.

"We have tried. The school board has their space allotted for various programs. All of their classrooms are designated."

In addition, said Mahoney, "a classroom is not always adaptable for licensing requirements."…

"It is our long-term goal to get the local community, school boards, provincial governments working closely to develop a cohesive plan," Mahoney said.

Seismic upgrading initiatives in Vancouver, at least in one case, are creating even more problems.

General Gordon elementary in Vancouver's Kitsilano area is a case in point.

The school, which houses one of three Jericho Kids Club after-care programs serving 20 Kinder Care kids and 67 elementary school students, is slated to be torn down and replaced with a more earthquake-proof building.

The proposed new building will include no room for the Jericho Kids Club. Unless community advocates can convince the school board to change its plans, those child-care spaces will be lost, and more parents will be forced to make less suitable arrangements.

Astrid Visscher, administrator of the Spare Time Childcare Society, a group that provides school-based before- and after-care to children in three Vancouver area schools, has 70 kids she can't accommodate on her waiting lists.

While she is pleased that the Vancouver school board "has always worked in partnership with care providers and parents, facilitating cross-boundary placements when necessary so that kids can attend schools with after-care programs," she is frustrated by the perception that child care is not as worthy of support and funding as early education programs such as Strong Start, which uses classroom space.

Strong Start is a free early-learning program funded and run by the B.C. government for preschoolers accompanied by a parent or caregiver.

"Strong Start is something that is good, it's accessible, it's free. It's all the things we want in a child-care program but it doesn't meet the needs of working families."

However, "Strong Start is getting classroom space for free, when non-profit child-care groups pay for use of school space," she said.

Visscher points out that before- and after-care programs always work closely with the school and families to support and facilitate learning. "We need a plan and a system that meets the needs of all families," Visscher said.

Weir said the school board is in a tough position. "It is difficult to assess short- and long-term enrolling space needs in Vancouver schools and difficult to find alternative space for child-care programs if space is needed for school needs."

Weir also cited the board's policy on use of facilities and grounds, which states "that it is inappropriate to use classroom space for after-care programs."

Another challenge that is keeping the board's hands effectively tied, he said, is the provincial government's feasibility study on the issue of all-day kindergarten.

If that is introduced, said Weir, "the amount of space we need will effectively double."

Making Pleas for Change
Other areas in the region are also struggling to find creative ways to resolve the problem.

Coquitlam school board communications manager Cheryl Quinton said, "Daycare is an issue everywhere and our area is no exception. We do use classroom space when necessary."

Lianne Ricou, manager of business development for the Surrey school board, said there are more providers looking for space than can be accommodated, and the growth of the school district adds additional pressure.

One way they have tried to resolve the issue, she said, is to make some classroom space usable. In addition, she said, "Strong Start has in some cases partnered up with the city and private providers to share space."

Clarence Hansen, chairman of the Vancouver school board, is sympathetic to parents' concerns and feels strongly that quality before- and after-care should be available to all kids in his district.

"We've always looked favourably on providing space," Hansen said. "The provincial government's expanded mandate is taking place and we don't know if all-day kindergarten is coming in."….

In February, Hansen wrote to the premier pointing out that the expanded education mandate means greater space requirements, most urgently in those cases in which seismic upgrading may mean loss of space.

It's small comfort to Karen Shaw, who still doesn't know whether she'll have to put her work life on hold or scramble for a temporary nanny next week when Sacha starts school.

"There is a two-tier system in place," she said. "The school system where kids get out at 3 p.m. works for families that can afford a nanny or to have one parent stay home. But for working moms, it's a completely different story."

By The Vancouver Sun's deadline, neither B.C. Children and Families Minister Linda Reed nor Education Minister Shirley Bond had responded to requests for interviews.