GUELPH – The County of Wellington is asking the province to postpone incentives to increase access to child care for young children until it comes up with a safer and more effective strategy in order to “reduce the likelihood of tragic events.”
On Feb. 28 county council endorsed a letter from Children’s Early Years division director Luisa Artuso to Ontario’s economic development minister Todd Smith.
The letter expresses concern about proposed legislative changes in Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act.
The bill would increase, from two to three, the number of children under the age of two that licensed home child care and unlicensed child care providers can simultaneously care for.
It also increases the overall number of children those providers can care for by excluding from the maximum the provider’s own children aged four and over.
“Simply put, Bill 66 will allow licensed home child care and unlicensed child care providers to care for more infants in an environment that has an increased number of children,” Artuso’s letter states.
“One can readily envision a scenario where a provider is solely responsible for three six-month-old infants and two two-and-half-year-old toddlers, for a total of five children under the age of three, in addition to any number of their own children who are four years of age or older.”
The letter points out Bill 66 seeks to ease the only regulations unlicensed child care providers have to follow: those relating to the number and the ages of children they are legally allowed to have in their care.
“With the minimal amount of regulation and oversight in unlicensed child care settings, the responsibility to assess risk of harm to children is left to parents,” the letter states.
“Yet, studies have shown that some parents do not have the knowledge or capacity to assess risk in any child care setting, and that parents who are desperate for child care are known to turn to readily-available care without knowing the risks and, at times, with no knowledge of the licensing status of the child care provider.”
‘What do parents want?’
The letter continues, “The supporting argument that Bill 66 increases ‘parent choice’ begs the question: What do parents want? In extensive community consultations conducted in Wellington in 2018, parents overwhelmingly indicated that they would prefer to use licensed child care if it were available.”
Councillor Dave Anderson, chair of the social services committee, said, “From Luisa’s perspective it’s creating a risk. Right now, adding more kids to these services, she feels there’s not enough attention to kids.”
Anderson told council the letter tells the province “we have questions about the safety of our children with (child care providers) being allowed to extend those numbers.”
The letter recommends the province postpone incentives to increase access to child care for children up to three years old until a “more effective strategy” to increase the level of licensed home child care is developed.
The letter suggests this could be completed by easing other regulatory requirements “that do not compromise quality and safety” and by working with service system managers to create additional incentives for providers to become and/or stay in the licensed system.
“Only then, should the provincial government explore regulatory changes to increase access to child care through licensed home child providers and not unlicensed child care,” the letter states.
“Giving priority to a safer, more accountable, and higher-quality licensed home child care system will reduce the likelihood of tragic events, provide more families peace of mind, and enhance the economic viability of communities at large.”
The letter points out the county welcomes many of the proposed changes in Bill 66, especially those related to equitable in-home services for all children and to authorized recreation services as they will help address existing gaps in the provision of child care, especially after-school care for four- and five-year-olds.
County council approved a recommendation from the social services committee to endorse the letter.
“It’s a great letter,” said Anderson. “I hope it comes on open ears, rather than deaf ears.”
