Cowichan's childcare crisis deepens, as care spaces lost
The Citizen/Canada.com
July 30, 2010
By Sarah Simpson

In 2007, a Social Planning Cowichan study declared a childcare crisis in the region.

Three years later, Candace Spilsbury, chair of the Cowichan Child Care Council, a group under the Social Planning Cowichan umbrella, reports the crisis is even more dire.

"At the time, when that report was distributed, it identified childcare as a crisis in our community given the number of spaces that were available and the number of children who would need that kind of support," Spilsbury said Wednesday. "It appears through our latest analysis that we have lost even some of those (spaces) so we are very concerned."

The Cowichan Child Care Council believes approximately 50 per cent of Cowichan children aged 12 and under will require childcare in the region.

In 2007, that figure was estimated at 4,862 children.

As indicated in the 2007 report, at that time only 48 per cent of the required space for childcare was available.

This year, the population for children 12 and under requiring care in the region is estimated to be about the same. The problem is some 538 child care spaces have been lost over the last three years, meaning the region can now only handle 37 per cent of the child care needs of the Valley.

The numbers are indeed staggering so, to make sure the Cowichan Child Care Council is on the right track, the group wants to double-check its numbers.

"We want to get on the ground information to verify our analysis and to try to determine next steps to move forward to meet the need," Spilsbury said. …

She said the survey aims to ask parents about their childcare needs and views, and their feelings on the current situation in the Cowichan Valley….

"The need for a publicly funded child care system in this province (and nationally) has never been greater. There is an overwhelming amount of research that details both the importance of attending to the early years of a child's life and the benefits to children of experiencing quality programs in their preschool years," Spilsbury said. "This research points particularity to the importance of being involved in these programs when children are in any way vulnerable socially, emotionally, or face economic hardship in their families."…