Daycare for teen moms could shut: Society that runs the centre blames 50 per cent cut to one of its grants
By Lindsay Kines and Rob Shaw
Times Colonist
April 9, 2010

Teen moms and their kids are the latest group reeling from budget cuts in the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

A Victoria program that helps young mothers finish high school says it likely will have to shut down its daycare because of a 50 per cent cut to one of its grants.

Without the daycare, young mothers in the Girls' Alternative Program say they'll have to quit school to look after their children.

"I wouldn't finish school this year," says Bailey Thiessen, 19, who had hoped to go on to Camosun College and become a counsellor.

She entered the GAP program two years ago to get her Grade 11 and 12, because it offered daycare for her daughter, Taylor, who is now 18 months old.

"I just thought it was a really neat opportunity to have a school with a daycare right there down the hall," she said. "When your baby's a little infant, they can be right there. That was the big part for me, because no other schools are like that."

Chantaya Roloson, 21, said she, too, will have to quit school if there's no longer daycare for her two-year-old son Izaiah. "Which would be extremely hard for me to accept since I'm so very close to finally finishing my education after a lengthy time of being out of school," she said. "A lot of our plans and dreams will be shattered."

The GAP program and the Options Child and Family Centre are both run by the Artemis Options Society. Executive director Lisa Ellis said she was "sickened" to receive word of the budget cut last week. "At this point, I don't see that we can keep the daycare open," she said…. Children's Minister Mary Polak was unavailable for comment yesterday. But her ministry confirmed that it plans to slash money for parenting-skills training and other supports at the childcare centre from $135,000 to $65,000….

"While the reduction may affect the extent to which they can provide enhanced supports -- such as parenting skills -- this decision should not impact the agency's ability to deliver childcare services because they are receiving the same level of funding as any other provider," the ministry said in a prepared statement….

The cuts were part of a $7.2-million drop in the annual $500-million budget for contracted services within the Ministry of Children and Family Development. The full extent of organizations affected by those cuts is unknown because all notifications have yet to be sent, government said….