More to the story on child care
Burnaby Now
May 16, 2009
Re: Child care a big issue, Letters to the editor, Burnaby NOW, May 9
By: Antonia Beck, executive director of South Burnaby Neighbourhood House

I agree 100 per cent that child care is a big issue ….
South Burnaby Neighbourhood House has worked hard and diligently over the past seven years to address many social needs in our community - child care being one of them.

We appreciate the government support that we receive - yes, $448,000 as quoted in our annual report - but these funds support not only our child-care services but also a range of other supportive programs such as family resource programs, community kitchens, homework clubs and youth leadership.

… Marlborough School Age Childcare program is part of a much larger organization. South Burnaby Neighbourhood House is a not-for-profit charitable organization with a mission to make our neighbourhood a great place to live and work.

We currently operate six child-care centres with a seventh scheduled to open at Gilpin School in September. The government provides us with a per-child operating grant in order to keep the fees affordable. In 2008, this translated to $186,000. The total operating budget for the school-age child-care programs (six centres) was $1,273,908. (The operating grant is only $1.46 per child per day for school-age children).

Our monthly fees did increase from $275 to $322 last fall, and, although at first glance this sounds like a significant increase, we equalized our fees and came up with an average monthly amount.

The new payment system includes full daycare on all professional days, early dismissals and three weeks of school holidays. ..

The daycares open at 7 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. The summer fee of $1,224 is for full-time care (7 a.m. to 6 p.m.) for the entire summer. We have a scheduled two-week holiday closure where parents who choose this option will have their fees reduced to $952 for their summer care. This translates to $27.20 per day. As a parent of a school-age child, I know first-hand the cost of child care and summer activities. …

Access to services is a number 1 priority for our organization. For families who struggle, government subsidies are available to lower their fees, but what the government provides as compared to what the service actually costs falls short, and, for this reason, we also provide an internally generated subsidy that is available to our families.

This is where fundraising and donations are important to our organization. In addition to our licensed child-care services, we also provide a wide range of free after-school programs at Edmonds, Maywood and Stride community schools.

Being a fair and equitable employer is also an important value to us. It is a fine balancing act to pay our staff fair wages for their professional work while keeping our fees affordable.

The government per-child operating grant has stayed at the same level for the past seven years, but the costs of operating the daycare centres continue to increase.

We offer competitive wages, group pension, staff development opportunities and health benefits for our employees. Our staff are not wealthy, but they do deserve to earn a livable wage.

The decision to raise fees does not come easy, but we really do not have any other choice if we are going to sustain a viable business.

Child care is an essential service, and, until government raises the operating grant, it will be a costly service.

As a parent of a child in one of our daycare centres, I absolutely value this service, it is of high quality and gives me peace of mind so that I can get on with my day…

I agree … that the current system is failing - 2002 brought us a reduction in our government child-care operating grant, and we have not seen an increase since.

For this reason, we make sure that South Burnaby Neighbourhood House continues to participate on several coalitions advocating to all levels of government for affordable quality child care.

It is up to each parent to take an active role and advocate for a fair system.

Until the system changes, we parents can expect to pay the going rate for care.