Child care poses rural dilemma

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Reading Time: 5 minutes

Published: October 17, 2002

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.”

About the author

Ian Bell

Brandon bureau

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