Childcare crisis forcing families to move

Licensed Day home operator Jane Hampton plays in her backyard with (from left) Emma Smith, 3, Makayla Brown, 2, and Sam Ingstrup, 1, on Friday, April 11. A shortage of day care in the Oilfields area is forcing families to move to other communities. photo by Lyle Aspinall for the Western Wheel

By Tamara Neely
Staff Reporter

There is such a shortage of childcare in the High Country area some parents are planning their next child around future openings in the only local licensed day home.
“I’ve had two parents ask me when is the good time to have their next baby,” said Jane Hampton, the sole licensed day home operator in Black Diamond. “That’s how critical the problem is in this area, they’re planning on having their child around when I’ll have the next opening to fit them in.
“I’m getting a lot of calls and I feel frustrated that I can’t help these people out.”
A recent study initiated by the Town of Turner Valley and Family and Community Support Services confirmed what High Country residents already knew – there is a strong demand for childcare in the area.
Consultant Karen McCullagh conducted the survey to formally research the need for day care in Black Diamond, Turner Valley and the Village of Longview.
McCullagh compiled responses from 24 participants who completed an online survey. McCullagh also interviewed Hampton, a resident advertising a new day care, parents, members of the Foothills Parent Link Partnership and the Calgary and Area Child and Family Services licensing officer.
On March 3, McCullagh presented the findings and made recommendations to Turner Valley town council.
The research showed a clear lack of childcare; 95.8 per cent of respondents indicated there is a “definite” need for licensed day care.
“We have families leaving the community because they can’t get day care,” said McCullagh.
Black Diamond resident Carla Kryklywicz knows first hand how hard it is to find childcare. She and her husband spent five months trying before landing care for their son.
With only one licensed care facility, they looked to private day homes. A further complication when looking for care for her daughter was many day homes also happen to have pets, and Kryklywicz’s daughter has a pet allergy.
For Kryklywicz it is important to find a childcare operator who is likely to continue offering care so her children feel secure and so she doesn’t have to repeat the process of trying to find appropriate care all over again.
“Lots of these moms get into (providing care) because they’re staying home with their kids, but they’re not doing it as a day care per se,” said Kryklywicz. “It’s more doing it as a favour and taking a couple of kids.
“I can’t believe how many parents stay at home.”
Licensed facilities, Kryklywicz said, tend to be in the business long-term. They also have the credibility of having approved care standards through the licensing process.
“I don’t think you have to be licensed to have an excellent day home,” said Kryklywicz. “But it does give parents peace of mind. You’ve got to talk to people and word of mouth is a better bet than licensed or not.”
For most parents, Kryklywicz explained, care is needed when maternity/paternity leave ends, so usually when the child is one-year-old until the child begins school, usually age five.
Families are looking for care between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. for children as young as newborns and up to 12-year-olds, including special needs children.
Turner Valley Mayor Dona Fluter said council is interested in looking at what they can do to ease the situation.
“The Town is trying to encourage people who are properly licensed to open a facility out here,” said Fluter.
A licensed childcare facility is preferable to unlicensed for two reasons: licensing lends parents a sense of security that the day care or day home operates with approved trained staff and standards, with a focus on safety; and parents are able to apply for a provincial childcare subsidy to help pay for childcare with licensed care.
McCullagh said the government support makes a big difference in a family budget. Full-time day care ranges between $600 and $1,000 per month per child, the report states, and many families could not afford it without subsidies.
The amount of subsidy awarded depends on family size and income, type of care facility and age of the children needing care.
While the subsidies are a boon for parents, for childcare providers they present an operations hurdle.
“The problem with day care cash flows is if a (parent) will get subsidy, they may not get it for four months, so they fall behind,” McCullagh explained at the meeting.
To address the need for childcare McCullagh made several recommendations, including that the FCSS develop a plan to engage all communities.
In the meantime, the Town of Turner Valley could consider providing use of public facilities for a licensed day care, offering two-year subsidized lease arrangements to attract an operator, she said.
The Forestry Building, for example, could effectively accommodate 20 preschool and 20 school-aged children.
McCullagh advised that this support of social infrastructure would make the communities more attractive to families with young children.
The Town should also make it easier for licensed day homes to fill the need by removing existing municipal barriers, such as restrictive land use bylaws, she said.
Helping interested providers develop childcare is a worthy effort, she said, because there are a lot of steps to opening a licensed facility.
However, the provincial government provides incentive through offering grants for new day care facilities. The program is called Making Space for Children: Childcare Space Creation Innovation Fund.
For more information about the subsidy program or grants available for starting approved day care facilities, go to www.child.alberta.ca/home/706.cfm or call 297-6100.