Smart Solutions for BC Families » Availability
There are over half a million children under the age of 12 in our province, but there are only regulated spaces in group and family child care for around 15% of them. Waiting lists for child care spaces can be years long — even parents who put their name on a waiting list before their child is born can be without child care when their parental leave ends and they go back to work. For parents who work shifts or live in rural communities, finding quality child care for their children is even harder.
This isn’t just an issue in BC — lack of availability is a problem families face across Canada. Of 20 comparable countries, Canada’s pre-school aged children have the lowest rate of access to early learning and child care. In countries like Belgium, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, nearly 100% of pre-school aged children have access to care. [See chart]
Why is Canada so far behind? In countries where child care is widely available, governments have invested public funds to build services in communities — something that hasn’t happened here.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Every child in BC has the right to attend public school. Now it’s time to make sure that every child also has the right to access a high quality, regulated child care space if their family wants or needs it. BC has the financial ability to build a child care system that works for children, families and communities.
» Help us tell our leaders that public investment in child care is a smart solution for BC families.
Resources
» more about the current situation:
Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada, 2006 (British Columbia)
Child Care Space Statistics, 2007 (BC is on page 11)
Child Care Resource and Research Unit
» Where are the Children?
Child Care Advocacy Forum, 2003
» what a publicly funded child care system in BC could look like
A Costing and Accountability Model for a BC Child Care System
Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC, 2007
Read more:
Publications released by the Advocacy Forum
2001-2008
From Patchwork to Framework: A Child Care Strategy for Canada
Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada, 2004
Child Care Plan
Coalition of Child Care Advocatest of BC, 2007
Rate of access to ELCC programs
for 3-6 year olds
Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (using OECD data, 2006)
Community needs assessments:
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