EXCERPTS:
First-time mom Victoria Racette did everything she could to find the best daycare for her daughter.
As soon as she got pregnant, Racette signed up for a waiting list for a home daycare that came highly recommended. She toured the home and got to know her provider.
Her daughter, Lailah, grew to like her daycare, but eventually, that changed. Lailah was coming home exhausted and often had bruises that seemed more numerous than expected for a busy toddler.
"She was a really unhappy baby," said Racette, who works as a marketing coordinator with a non-profit organization.
One day, Racette picked up Lailah and found her daughter had bruises on her forehead and nose, a scratched face and two bald spots on her head.
"The daycare provider wasn't able to tell me why, when, how anything had happened," she said.
The Hamilton mom pulled her daughter out and began the frantic search for a new caregiver. Racette's mother watched Lailah for the five weeks it took to find a suitable replacement - this time in Burlington.
Racette is one of many local parents who has struggled to find adequate daycare. According to the Ontario Ministry of Education which recently became responsible for childcare, Hamilton has 10,969 licensed spots for children aged 18 months to 12 years old, and only 239 licensed spots for infants between 12 and 18 months. Province-wide, there are only enough licensed daycare spots for 20 per cent of children in need of care.
Often, the licensed spots are simply too expensive for parents to bear, forcing families to turn to sub-par and potentially unsafe childcare providers.
These gaps have already led to tragedies. Earlier this month, a two-year-old toddler died at an unlicensed home daycare in Vaughan, despite earlier complaints of overcrowding. Just this week, a Waterloo woman who ran an unlicensed home daycare was charged with allegedly poisoning two children with eye drops.
Ontario Ombudsman André Marin has formally launched an investigation into unlicensed daycares and how the Ministry of Education responds to complaints.
Part of the problem with childcare in Ontario is the patchy enforcement of provincial health, safety, and training standards, argues Andrea Calver, the coordinator at Ontario Coalition for Better Childcare. Under provincial legislation, providers who care for up to five children in their homes don't have to obtain a license - and as a result, do not face provincial inspections and regulations.
And while Calver points out that many unlicensed home daycare providers are responsible, loving caregivers, the gaps in provincial oversight mean that some children are not adequately protected.
"What it does mean is there are no rules, there's nobody monitoring, and there's no support for providers," Calver said. "I can't think of another area of regulation where it's up to people as to whether they follow the rules."
However, Calver also points out that unlicensed home daycares in Ontario fill a need for parents, especially parents of infants. While the province offers 12 months of paid parental leave, there are very few licensed daycare spots available - fewer than 250 in Hamilton - for 12-month-old babies. That's because the province requires a much higher staff-to-child ratio for infants until they reach the age of 18 months.
The reason there are so few licensed daycare spots all comes down to money, says Marni Flaherty, CEO of Today's Family Early Learning and Childcare, which offers licensed care for infants to school-age children.
Licensed daycares receive some government funding, easing some of the burden passed on to parents through fees. Most licensed daycares charge around $40 to $70 per day per child, though some specifically target high-income families with fees that can climb as high as $90 or $100 per day. Licensed home daycares charge less, while unlicensed daycares charge as little as $25 to $35 per day. Licensed daycares are more expensive because the cost of meeting the province's standards - everything from higher staff ratios to rent to the cost of the license itself.
Without increased government investment for more licensed spots, most families wouldn't be able to shoulder the cost.
"Childcare is expensive for even families that couldn't considered middle-class," said Flaherty.
Compared to the public school system, which receives almost a billion dollars in government funding each year, early childhood education does not receive anywhere near the same level of investment.
"It does force parents into some very difficult choices," Calvert said. "The tragedy is, it is easier to find childcare at the local laundromat because there's a flyer that says 'I look after children in my home' than it is to go through the municipality or get on a waiting list."
Hamilton MPP and NDP Children and Youth Services critic Monique Taylor has been urging the provincial Liberal government to publicly release complaints about unlicensed home daycares, and to comply with the recommendations in the Ombudsman's report. She agrees that unlicensed daycares need more regulation.
"People flock to them because they're more affordable," she said. "We know that the system is not going to change overnight, but to ensure the safety of our children today, we need to make sure that parents have the best tools available."
That's why Canada needs a comprehensive childcare policy, argues Flaherty, who also sits on local, provincial and national boards and agencies geared towards improving daycare. She says the public needs to start insisting on better childcare, before tragedies like those in Waterloo and Vaughan happen again.
"The issues in Hamilton are across the province, and across Canada. We're not different than any other community," she said. "Childcare needs to be seen by the public as an essential service. We need to have a joint vision of what childcare service should look like."
In the mid-2000s, the federal government, then led by Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin, pursued a cross-Canada childcare program that would have cost $5 billion to implement over five years. Every province signed onto the plan.
However, when the Stephen Harper Conservatives were elected in 2006, they scrapped the program and replaced it with a $100 monthly payment per child up to age six offered directly to parents. That sum only covers one to two days of childcare for an infant in a licensed daycare, and less than three days for a child over 18 months.
The Conservatives have argued that the individual payments offered more choice to parents than a national daycare program.
"Imagine if we didn't go down that road - the $100 month road - but started to build a childcare plan, where we would be now," Flaherty said. "We were so disappointed when that happened. And I know this province, like a lot of other provinces, took it upon themselves to pursue the dream of a better system - which was great. But we just need the Federal folks to step up and help."
Flaherty says the key to a successful childcare strategy is to think holistically about what families need. She says the province should create child and family centres that provide everything from prenatal classes to after-school programs to daycare centres to affiliated home daycares. In turn, those centres should work closely with libraries, recreation centres, and schools to create a one-stop shop for parents looking for childcare and children's resources.
"All of a sudden, there's this destination point in every neighbourhood for early-years education. It's kind of like a gathering spot," she said.
If helping families isn't reason enough to improve daycares, Calvert points out that there are proven economic benefits to providing parents with adequate childcare. In Quebec, where parents are offered licensed daycare for $7 per day, child poverty rates have gone down by 50 per cent.
"The answer to family poverty is enabling parents to be there for work," she said. "We have poverty reduction strategies here in Ontario that aren't getting anywhere near those results."
-reprinted from the Spec