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Squamish childcare solutions and opportunities

We are in crisis, but there's hope, say local childcare experts.

While the childcare crunch in Squamish is overwhelming and indeed a crisis causing real pain for local families, the outlook isn't all doom and gloom.

The Chief caught up with two local experts to understand what has been missing from the conversation thus far and what has proven to work.

SSCS

A discussion about childcare in the corridor isn't complete without talking to Chelsie Brubacher, associate director of service delivery at Sea to Sky Community Services (SSCS), who has more than 20 years of experience in childcare.

SSCS is a childcare provider — with multiple childcare centres in town and Pemberton.

The non-profit society also operates the Child Care Resource and Referral Program (CCRR), which supports parents in finding childcare and supports providers.

And SSCS operates Supported Child Development, a program that helps children with diverse needs attend childcare programs.

Brubacher said it is those children who are often left out of the childcare conversation.

"People talk a lot about the fact that we have got this childcare crisis in our community and nobody can find care, but it is doubly difficult for families with children with diverse needs to find care," she said. "Not only do they need to find care, but they also often have to wait on a waitlist for their child to be paired with a support worker so they can attend a program. Those families are hitting two giant barriers."

She said she started to notice the childcare crunch about a decade ago.

"As our population is going up, we just haven't kept up in the community with the number of spaces," she said.

Challenges as a provider

As a childcare provider, Brubacher said their biggest challenge is finding qualified staff.

"The wage for childcare providers can range from $20 to $25 an hour.... that is not enough money to live in this corridor," she said. "And it is also a field that kind of naturally has a high turnover rate."

She added that burnout could be an issue for the industry, and sometimes the primarily female staff can't afford to return to work once they have children of their own.

"It seems like such a tragedy that we have childcare providers who can't come to work because of childcare restrictions."

Brubacher said she was excited to see council giving the nod to Anthem Properties' Loggers Lane development, which includes a childcare centre and two affordable housing units reserved for early childhood educators.

"That is a really exciting, innovative way to try to tackle a piece of this huge crisis because I think staffing is one of the number one issues," she said.

She also praised the Capilano University early childhood education (ECE) program that has been offered in Squamish since 2019.

"That has been amazing," she said. "It is educating staff and bringing them into the workforce in our community, which has been really fantastic, and I hope that is something that is going to continue. It has been a really positive step toward tackling this problem. But again, that is a solution for a couple of years down the road. Not a today solution."

What would she tell families?

Asked for advice to pass on to young families, Brubacher said, "start looking early" for childcare.

"And be prepared to be flexible, because what we have seen, certainly, is that families who have the ability to be flexible in what their childcare needs are — maybe you and a partner or you and a friend or you and a family member can spell each other off — that can be helpful while you are waiting for spaces to open up," she said. "It is definitely a waiting game."

For families new to the area, a first step should be to connect with the Child Care Resource and Referral Program (CCRR), Brubacher said. Consultants have a list of all the registered programs in Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton.

"They can give you a list of what the options are, and they can also really help educate parents about the differences in types of care because ideally, you are choosing a childcare program that fits with your family. Some are going to want that group care experience, and some are going to want an in-home small family daycare."

On the same page

Brubacher said as bleak as it can seem for parents, there is hope.

"I have been in the field for 21 years, and this is the first time in my memory that all levels of government have talked about it. The municipality is talking about it, the provincial government is talking about it, and the federal government is talking about it — and that is exciting — and they are also talking to each other about it.," she said.

"I feel like we are in crisis, but I also feel like we are moving in the right direction."

Making it work

While childcare centres have closed in Squamish in recent years, some are making it work.

Ashley Hendriksen opened Paragon Kids last year and is looking to open a second centre.

Childcare has been her passion since she was a girl.

"There was never a question of what I wanted to do — that was it," she told The Chief.

Hendriksen, who recently had a daughter of her own, has been working in childcare professionally for more than a decade.

She has worked in different settings as an early childhood educator (ECE), including in a high school for teen moms.

She quickly moved into management positions and then to helping open new centres.

"I just really fell in love with the development of new programs," she said. "Over the years, I started learning more about the business side of things and how to manage all the costs."

At first, when she went out on her own, she cared for a few children in her home, but after hearing all the stories about the childcare shortage from local parents, she determined she'd open her own centre.

She started Paragon Kids in May of 2020.

She opened it in a house in Valleycliffe, which includes a three-bedroom suite that she furnished for staff.

Rent is subsidized, she pays a higher wage, provides a benefit package and offers $500 a year for professional development — all to attract and retain the best staff, she said.

"I really carefully planned out what I had to do to have my staff feel appreciated and paid what I absolutely could — obviously, I would still love to pay them more — and looked at every little piece of it to make it work for not only the children, the families, and the staff, but also myself," she said, adding she had seen many operators and caregivers become very stressed and didn't want that for her centre or herself.

She started the centre for the high-in-demand infant toddler demographic but recently switched to the three-to-five age group for many reasons that others have outlined.  

"Infant/toddler doesn't work well in a small setting of one class and no older care to graduate into," she said. "A program of just 12 children was a new experience for me that presented its own unexpected challenges. Children attending care in this age group generally don't attend for long before moving to a 30 month to school-age program, so there is a regular rotation of new families without having continued care for them once they turn three. Providing care for this age group also has additional requirements of staff certification; a level of education that is very hard to come by around here," she said.

Advice

A relatively quick fix for the childcare crunch may be folks opening more in-home care centres, Hendriksen said.

"You can have a couple of those infant/toddler age groups as well as three to five," she said, acknowledging it can be exhausting to provide such care. "But as far as there being a quick fix, they are quick to get open — it is just if they are the right fit for each individual."

A wide variety of options for parents is best, she noted.

Hendriksen said she does worry that in a rush to fix the childcare shortage, regulations may be loosened too much, creating an oversupply and opportunities for those who aren't in the industry for the right reasons to squeeze out existing centres.

"Which is going to hurt the smaller programs that we have that have been supporting the community for so long," she said.

With in-home daycares, she said a loosening could be useful because they are held to some of the same standards as large centres, which doesn't make sense, but for commercial sites, there may be more operators who don't have a passion for it.

"If we end up with this oversupply of childcare, those larger ones are ultimately going to be the ones that succeed — we have seen so many of the smaller ones fall out of the community — the rules that are in place, as far as commercial sites go, are there for a reason and they protect the children that we have."

Hendriksen wants to open a second childcare location in Squamish but will not do it unless the space also has a staff housing opportunity.

She would like to see current Squamish operators be given a chance to grow their businesses.

"I know that [the District] is looking more at supporting non-profits... but also, I know there are a lot of us operators within the community that would love the opportunity to grow and I think rather than bring in new people to the community who don't know the community quite as well as those currently here, let those operators have that opportunity to show themselves to these new developers to prove, Here is why I would be a good fit."

Hendriksen said anyone looking for advice about local childcare can contact her at: [email protected].