EXCERPTS

Laurie Monsebraaten's story [2] on Ontario's child care regulations highlights many excellent points about why we should be very concerned about plans to put infants and toddlers in larger groups with fewer staff per child.

I would like to add that this is not the only proposal in the regulation package that warrants concern or - at least - further study and consultation. The regulation proposals also include a raft of other changes including: changing staffing ratios and group sizes in school-age care; introducing multi-age groupings; and removing current rules that limit regulated family child care providers to three children under three years old.

Together with the changes to infant and toddler care, this represents a major overhaul of what child care will look like in the province. Changes of this importance deserve a robust and open study and consultation process to get them right.

Carolyn Ferns, Toronto

- reprinted from the Toronto Star