Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

What About Child Care?

A presentation to the

All-Candidates Forum

January 18, 2006

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

• There are 16,630 children under the age of 12 in the Central Okanagan

• Out of the 6,990 children under the age of 5, 3907 (55.89%) have a mother in the paid work force

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

7,569 requests for help in finding quality child care were fielded by

the Kelowna Child Care Resource and Referral program in 2005

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

Almost 60% of women in the Central Okanagan participate in

the work force

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

Licensed options for families with infants and toddlers

• License Not Required (LNR) and Family Day Care

• Costs: average of $31.53 or $600.75 per month for infants and $30.49 per day or $607.67 per month for toddlers

• Availability: 170 for infants and toddlers out of 555 possible spaces

• Accessibility: all spaces are filled

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

Group day care for infants and toddlers

• Costs: average of $751.22 for infants and $705.44 for toddlers

• Availability: 144 spaces

• Accessibility: all spaces are filled

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

• There are over 330 children on waitlists for a space in a licensed infant and toddler care program

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

295 licensed spaces will support only 10.45% of the 2822 children under

the age of 3 in the Central Okanagan

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

• 4,168 children are between 3 and 5 years of age in the Central Okanagan

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

What indicates quality in an early childhood program?

• Physical setting that protects children’s health and safety

• A number of children, based on age and developmental level, that allows the educator to provide individual attention

• Group size that does not overwhelm children

• Staff who are trained in child development and child care provision

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

• Administrator who is trained in Early Childhood and has additional training in administration

• Higher remuneration levels and working conditions for the educators

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

• Family with one income and two children under the age of 5 – 40% of pretax income on child care

• Family with two incomes and two children under the age of 5 – 20% of pretax income on child care

• Families with low incomes can qualify for a provincial subsidy

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

Options for child care for children 3 – 5 years old

• In LNR or Family Day Care– Cost: $28.59 per day or $624.3 per month– Availability: 97 spaces/555– Accessibility: unsure; there are 133 vacancies

reported at this time for children 3 - 12

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

Group care for 3 – 5 year olds

• Cost: $28.82 per day and $515.56 per month

• Availability: 551 licensed spaces

• Accessibility: 227 children are on waitlists, although there are 16 spaces available throughout the Okanagan

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

648 spaces are available for 4168 children (15.54%)

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

• For the 9,460 children between ages 6 and 11, there are 1066 spaces (11.05%)

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

Issues facing operators of quality child care

• Attracting and retaining the staff they need to meet the regulations is the single biggest issue facing operators in the Central Okanagan

• The reason: low wages

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

• Income only comes from 2 sources: parent fees and operating grants

• Wages account for between 66% and 84% of the costs of operating a centre

Community Action Toward Children's Health (CATCH)

In summary:

• There are not enough licensed spaces for the children of working parents in the Central Okanagan, particularly for infants and toddlers

• Cost and lack of choice due to availability are the major barriers to families seeking child care

• Operators of child care programs are unable to attract and retain the necessary qualified staff needed to operate the spaces they have, let alone offer more options to families