Written by: Claudia Louis
Imagine you’re a working mother who is lucky to have a job, especially one that allows you to take twelve months maternity. Now imagine you’re done your maternity leave, you have no daycare available, you can’t quit your job. Your boss has to approve you to bring your child to work. The only choice? Put your child in an unlicensed daycare. Now imagine you get a call while at work. Your baby has been hurt, at the very place you left her. That is the story of Duy-An Nguyen mother. Duy An Nguyen was a two year old toddler who died as a result of being shaken at unlicensed daycare centre being operated by a April Luckese who is currently awaiting trial on murder charges. The immense guilt could suffocate anyone, but worse yet is knowing so many mothers everyday are leaving their children in unlicensed day cares because there aren’t many choices available to them.
Canada has one of the largest working populations of new mothers. But at the same time we are behind in developing a system, an approach that would safe guard our children. Why do we have this problem? Lack of daycare funding means unlicensed day cares pop up. Why are they unlicensed? It’s because caregivers operating an unlicensed day care can keep as many children as they want. However, when the day care is licensed they are limited to only having three children under the age of three, two children under the age of two and one child under the age of one. Last summer, Jeremie Audette a two year old boy died as a result of drowning in a backyard pool, he was in an unlicensed day care. Andrea Calver with the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care believes that proper inspection, monitoring and support for caregivers is essential and this can only be provided though licensed day care centres. When asked about the $100 supplement the Canadian government provides for child care, she notes that it has cost a lot of money, but hasn’t created one single spot.
Is affordable childcare just a dream? Other provinces have recognized the importance of early learning. Quebec has implemented the $7 per day law, whereby subsidized day care centres only charge that set fee. Manitoba has the second lowest child care policy at $18 per day child care is affordable. According to the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, the cost of leaving your child in a safe place to is an average of $40 to $60 per day per child, a fee that is too high for most families. How many more children’s lives need to be put at risk, for the government to understand child care is not a benefit, it’s a necessity.
Tags: Child Care, Licensed Daycares, Speak Out
