CLEAR LAKE, Man. – Parents and communities in need of affordable,
quality child care were given inspiration during the Rural Voices Forum
here last week.
The forum drew delegates from mainly Manitoba and Saskatchewan to talk
about how people can overcome the barriers to establishing things like
day cares in their communities.
It gave the delegates a chance to network and to learn what other rural
people are doing to meet that challenge.
“My only goal is to empower people to do it,” said Jane Wilson,
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co-consultant for Rural Voices, a two-year project devoted to promoting
rural child care through community participation.
“When we leave here, we’re not going to go home and be in isolation.”
In an interview, Wilson said one of the challenges for establishing
more child care in rural areas is the perception that smaller
communities may not have enough children to warrant such a service.
Another challenge is finding a suitable building and then meeting all
the building and fire code requirements. Finding people with
appropriate training to work in a licensed day care can be daunting, as
well.
People confronted with those kinds of challenges need to remind
themselves why quality child care is important, Wilson said.
“Kids deserve to be safe.”
One of her concerns is for the safety of farm children. There are times
when parents take their kids to the field in tractors or trucks because
they don’t have other options, such as a day care that stays open for
extended hours during the seeding and harvest seasons.
“If you work in Winnipeg or Brandon, dads don’t think of taking their
kids to a construction site. We have to start thinking of farms as work
sites.”
Wilson said progress is being made in overcoming the barriers to
establishing more child-care services in rural communities.
She said they’re working with colleges to develop a training program
for childhood educators who would work in day cares and nursery
schools. With that model, it would be possible for college instructors
to travel into rural areas where there are groups of people in need of
the training.
Mentoring is also being worked on so that people wanting to establish a
child-care service in their community could seek the experience of
others who have already tackled it.
“We’re moving ahead,” said Wilson. “Everybody’s moving ahead, although
I don’t think we’re moving ahead fast enough.”
One of the goals of Rural Voices is to examine government policy toward
child care in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. That examination, with input
from rural residents, will help determine whether a further review of
those policies is warranted.
Government policy is important, said Wilson, because it establishes a
benchmark for the level of service that people should expect,
regardless of whether they live on a farm, in a town, or in a city.
“Policy makes it an even playing field for everyone. It doesn’t make it
piecemeal. That’s exactly what we have right now, is piecemeal.”
In Manitoba, more than 24,000 people replied to a province-wide survey
done two years ago to assess child-care needs. The respondents made it
clear they wanted affordable and universally accessible child care.
Early this year, the Manitoba government introduced a five-year vision
to promote affordable and accessible child care for everyone.
While encouraged by that initiative, Wilson said government needs to be
sure it attaches the same importance to the needs of rural and remote
areas as it does to those of urban families.
Wilson is well known for her involvement in the Childcare Family Access
Network, a non-profit effort that started with the establishment of a
day care at Langruth, Man., and eventually helped establish child-care
facilities in five other rural Manitoba sites.
She said the important thing to note about each of those facilities is
that they were specifically tailored to the needs of the communities
they serve. That includes having extended hours of service to
accommodate farm families during the busier times of the year. Part of
the network’s strength is that people can share their collective
knowledge and experiences.
In interviews toward the close of the forum, two mothers described how
important day care is to them and their efforts to help establish that
service in their communities.
When Donna Riddell and her husband moved to Miami, Man., a few years
ago, they could not find the day care they needed within the community.
Donna worked in Carman, a half-hour drive away, and each morning she
would have to take her children there for day care. Having children
with her during the daily commute was a concern, especially in the more
treacherous winter driving conditions.
A committee was formed in fall 1997 to explore the need for child care
in Miami. One of its first tasks was to do a survey.
“The response was overwhelming,” said Riddell. “There was an
astonishing need for child care in Miami.”
One of the most important tasks after that was finding a site in Miami.
Houses, the hockey arena and the community hall were considered.
“Nothing was suitable,” said Riddell. “We struggled with that for over
a year.”
It was decided that the best option was to build a facility
specifically for a day care and nursery school.
Riddell said there were a couple of things that helped make that effort
a success. They went to the local rural municipality and were given
ample support, including a grant of $10,000, two building lots in
Miami, and a waiver on their taxes. They also secured a pre-approved
mortgage from the local credit union for $60,000.
That gave them the foundation to apply for provincial grants and to
continue with local fundraising efforts.
In March 2000, the day care and nursery school opened under the name
Miami Children’s Facility. There were at least 16 full- and part-time
children enrolled.
For the community, it fit with the goal of promoting economic
development. For Riddell, it offered the comfort of knowing her
children were in a safe environment with daily learning activities and
a chance to get acquainted with other children in their community.
“I felt secure having more kids after that. I knew I was going to have
quality child care for them.”
Besides offering day care, the facility serves as a family resource
centre and it delivers a prenatal and infant nutrition program in
partnership with the local regional health authority.
The success of that effort led to the establishment of nursery schools
in the nearby communities of Graysville and Roland. Those centres are
networked with the Miami Children’s Facility and also do family
resource work.
“You’ve got to make it happen,” said Riddell. “It doesn’t just land on
your plate.”
When Wanda Janssens moved to Langenburg, Sask., two years ago, she
discovered there wasn’t a licensed day-care facility available. She
soon set out to impress upon the community the value of such a service.
“We’re trying to get across the message that even though we have good
care, we want to bring in licensed care with learning and child care as
one. I think there’s a great demand.”
She found that one of the challenges was creating community awareness
of the need.
With that hurdle now overcome, the emphasis is on buying a building for
the child-care centre, which would be for infants and children up to
age 12.
“My main goal is to have a safe place for children, all children.”
Being able to network with people who have undertaken similar efforts
is valuable, said Janssens, an early childhood educator and facilitator
of the project at Langenburg.
She is inspired by people like Jane Wilson, but said there are no
immediate plans to extend the child care being established at
Langenburg into surrounding communities.
“That would be a very good goal, but I’m going to start small.”