Child-rearing very expensive fact of life

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

The Advertiser

NovaNewsNow.com

Last Tuesday was National Child Day and also the day the Early Learning and Child Care Act, Bill C-303, went back in the House of Commons for third reading.

Members of Parliament will vote in the New Year on what’s considered landmark legislation. Laurie St. Amour, director of the Wolfville Children’s Centre, says best of all it can set the stage for national standards, expectations and support for communities.

In previous readings, she noted, it was supported unanimously by Liberal, NDP and Bloc members.

St. Amour hopes Kings-Hants MP Scott Brison will hear from early child care advocates locally.

“It’s important to let the MPs know that this issue should still be supported. In Nova Scotia, early childhood education and care is falling deeper into crisis,” she said.

John Smith, who is on the board of the Wolfville Childcare Centre and a member of the Community Child Care Board Network of Nova Scotia (CCCBN of NS), has expressed his concern about the growing unavailability of quality care for children.

In fact, the Wolfville father told Community Services Minister Judy Streatch, “affordable care is not easy to find. Licensed child care costs $30 or more a day and the cost can be prohibitive for many young families, especially single parents trying to finish school or who work to support their children.”

Volunteer members of the network met earlier this fall about the need to improve access to child care subsidies for low-income families across Nova Scotia. The network formed recently over growing concern among its members about provincial government policy and the ongoing difficulties experienced by families in need when they try to access child care subsidies. St. Amour says it’s significant to note that income eligibility levels for child care subsidies have not been adjusted since 1991.

Barely making ends meet

While the session with Streatch was positive, concern about accessibility to subsidies and availability of subsidized spaces continues. Today’s parents in need often do not qualify for a government subsidy for child care because their income level is being assessed at a 16-year-old standard.

“The result is they are often found to be too rich to qualify for subsidy even though they are barely making ends meet,” she said.

Parents with even minor wage increases over the years can no longer qualify for help. Rising costs of living are eroding their income and the full burden of child care (frequently over $6,000 per year) is becoming more and more unbearable.

Streatch has announced the availability of more subsidized spaces, but St. Amour says, in reality, they may just be shifted around. She notes that Wolfville has lost eight subsidized portable spaces because “now even the poorest of the poor, not just the poor, do not qualify for subsidies. Two parents working full-time at minimum wage do not qualify.”

Obtaining a subsidy, too, doesn’t mean that all child care costs are covered. Daily rates for child care can vary, but subsidies pay only for a portion; the parent has to pay the remaining amount.

St. Amour added, “child care is a very expensive fact of life. We’re just trying to speak up for the families who are deserving of quality, reliable child care, but who often cannot access it because they cannot qualify for subsidy.”

Streatch opposes Bill C-303, calling it a serious intrusion by the Parliament of Canada into an area of provincial responsibility.

St. Amour said, “it’s important for the government to know when the plans and policies they put forward just don’t work well on a day-to-day practical level for daycares and the families they serve, and it’s our responsibility as volunteer board members to make policymakers aware.”

Network representatives will meet with senior Community Services staff on this issue and others at the end of November.