LLOYDMINSTER, Alta. – Kim Heyman knows what the problem is with Alberta’s child-care system.
She said the child-care centre in her town has run an ad for two months to find new employees, “but when McDonald’s offers the same wage as our day care, with no responsibilities …”
Heyman, who is the administrator for the County of St. Paul, attended one of the 18 consultation meetings that the provincial government held in May and June to unveil its plans to reform child-care law.
Government officials, parents and day-care staff who attended the sessions pinpointed staffing as the main problem for Alberta, which is caught in a general labour shortage.
Read Also
Stock dogs show off herding skills at Ag in Motion
Stock dogs draw a crowd at Ag in Motion. Border collies and other herding breeds are well known for the work they do on the farm.
Larry Austman of Alberta’s children’s services department told about 30 women at the Lloydminster meeting June 20 that the main issue is low wages because society doesn’t appreciate child-care work.
“We want a professional industry that is respected, and higher wages and certified (trained) staff. That will reduce the high staff turnover.”
Austman said the province is trying to be realistic about staffing while also improving the standards for child care. However, the women at the Lloydminster meeting objected to the proposed decrease in the ratios of staff to children in their care.
“I think lowering the ratios will push centres to stop taking care of babies because we can’t keep staff for the one to eight (older) kids ratio now,” one woman said.
The province is proposing that there be one staff person for every three babies up to the age of 18 months. The present infant ratio is one adult per four babies.
The same woman also said that while schools have one teacher in charge of 28 children in a classroom all day, the proposed change requires before and after school child-care centres to have two staff for 10 children.
A parent noted that there is another problem in Lloydminster, which saw more than 800 births last year.
“We have nowhere to put these kids. We have illegal private day homes. Some of these homes have 12, 13 kids but there’s nothing else the parents can do.”
Austman said employees in the provincial child-care licencing department are not policemen and cannot be responsible if parents make bad choices by hiring cheap, unqualified babysitters.
“Is your wide screen TV worth more to you than your child care? That’s why we’re here so we can make good regulations, not bad ones.”
Austman said the intent is to make improvements but not cause centres to close or take in fewer children.
“Access to regulated child care is particularly challenging in rural, northern, aboriginal and francophone communities, small urban centres and in Alberta’s fastest growing cities,” the department said in a document released at the consultation sessions.
To accommodate the demand for child care in these areas, the province is proposing to license a new category that allows two caregivers in one home to care for seven to 10 children. However, the province will not license programs in peoples’ homes that have six children or fewer.
Other proposed standard changes include:
- All child-care workers will have to take specialized training and be subject to a criminal record check.
- Each licenced centre will have a manager with a two-year diploma.
- One out of every four staff will have first aid training.
- Centres will be responsible for ensuring each child has nutritious food.
- No smoking will be allowed in the centre and any child’s illness or accident will be reported to the parents.
This fall the Alberta government will release a document that compiles responses from the public to the child-care act. Regulations will be written in the winter leading up to the act’s proclamation in March 2008, when the new standards will become law.
