Special report: Parents struggle with daycare costs, availability and standards
Darrell Bellaart, Nanaimo Daily News
April 3, 2010

The hunt for daycare is daunting for Leah Pearson as she prepares to return to work with the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district in August. She has broken down and cried out of pure frustration with the search to place her newborn child into good care.

Daycare availability in central Vancouver Island and a decrease in provincial subsidies has made life troublesome for parents. Some people in Ladysmith and the Cowichan Valley had to borrow money to pay for the service they need. Others, like Pearson, cannot find space for children under 30 months.

Cuts to gaming grant funding for non-profit daycares is just one of the many problems that make the daycare world a messy and confusing place for parents to navigate. The industry is about to get more confusing with the provincial government's move to all-day kindergarten in the fall. Plus, there is a continuing shortage of skilled workers for daycares because of low wages.

Like everything else, daycare costs continue to rise, but government subsidies in B.C. have not changed for years. Recent licensing rule changes seem to have helped free up more spaces for parents of children three and over, but for parents of newborns and younger children it remains difficult finding affordable, quality care….

"It's brutal. There's slim pickings," she said. "I've been in tears about it. It's your baby. You want to give them the best care possible."

Hit with a massive deficit, the province has been cutting gaming grants to a variety of non-profit organizations, including daycares.

Little Ferns Early Learning Centre at John Barsby Secondary School caters mainly to young parents returning to school and is now turning to service clubs to preserve a meal program going that lost an $11,000 gaming grant.

Parksville-Qualicum MLA Ron Cantelon insists his government is doing what it can to help parents. He proudly points to new child-care facilities being created in Ladysmith and Parksville as examples of the Liberal's commitment.

At the groundbreaking for the $5.1-million Ladysmith facility, Ian Kalina, executive director of the Ladysmith Boys and Girls Club, spoke about how some Cowichan Valley parents had to borrow money to pay for daycare.

"Parents were desperate and very pessimistic," Kalina said.

For Rick Turner, whose son just turned four in January, kindergarten isn't an option until fall 2011, when his boy turns five. He recently learned from Enchanted Woodland, his son's not-for-profit daycare, the fee would go up after a $20,000 government grant was withdrawn. The centre's board of directors is still working out the exact impact of the reduction in funds.

Turner keeps his son in care two-and-a-half days a week, while he and his wife both work. "We'll probably cut him off that half-day."…

Parents pay $905 a month to put a baby in Jolly Giant. That drops to $810 by the time they leave the facility at 19 months. ….PacificCare, which runs a child-care resource and referral centre on Barons Road routinely hears from concerned parents unable to find care for young children.

"Two years ago, it was very hard to place children. People were looking for spaces when they were pregnant. It was taking months to find spaces for over-3s, years, even," said Carmen Barclay, programs and services co-ordinator.

Vancouver Island University turns out a fresh crop of graduates with ECE diplomas each year but a shortage of trained workers remains an issue for an industry that typically pays $13 to $17 an hour.

"There's not many of us stay in it long term," says Amber McLeod, co-chairwoman of Early Childhood Educators of B.C. in Nanaimo.

Workers tend to earn less working at private facilities. …."We continue to advocate (to) government for subsidies for parents and accessible, affordable child care," McLeod says….

Services vary across the country, while federal support from one party failed before it got started….

In the Liberal government's throne speech this year, they followed up on a promise of affordable child care for low- and moderate-income families with a $26 million top-up to an existing program that won't help more families.

The federal NDP have tried to increase support for parents. The party tabled a private member's bill in the House of Commons, which got all-party support in 2007, but it later died before becoming law. The legislation would have directed federal funds into "high-quality, affordable, accessible, and non-profit early learning and child-care services."

It remains an important issue, according to Nanaimo-Alberni MP Jean Crowder.

"People have concerns about a lack of affordable, quality child-care spaces," she said. "I hear from employers they have trouble getting workers. Then I hear from workers it's difficult to get work because of difficulties getting access to child care."