I am writing to you to express my deep sadness for the childcare situation in Squamish.
Not really for myself, although, I do operate a licensed childcare business in Valleycliffe. I am mainly speaking on behalf of the families that have relied and depended on my services to take care of their children while they go off and work.
Some have an older child while the remainder of the families are first-time parents and often had been searching for childcare for their newborn months before the births.
I am not new at operating a licensed daycare. As an Early Childhood Educator (with my licence to practice in B.C.), I have over 25 years in this profession and have worked all over the North Shore and in Vancouver.
In 2015, my eldest son and his wife fell in love with Squamish and were excited to settle into this community, buy their first home and raise a family.
They found out soon after they were expecting twins! How wonderful — until they realized there was very limited childcare for their soon to be born babies. I did my research and discovered that there was a huge baby boom happening in Squamish and many of the new parents would soon be requiring daycare. Within the next year, my recently-retired husband and I bought a house just down the street from my son. It was a very expensive fixer upper — but with the potential to have 16 children in the new daycare. I did the math. I could live upstairs and operate a daycare on the main level with a beautiful big backyard for the children attending the daycare to enjoy.
The sad truth of the matter was that after obtaining a business licence, and after completing the Vancouver Coastal Health Licensing application, I was told I had to have an inspection, which I passed, but discovered I was only allowed to take in eight children, not the 16 I was told initially. As a licensed centre, I am bound to follow strict BC Childcare regulations, which probably need to be amended in some areas. Especially on the classifications of teachers required — it seems unbalanced.
As a regulated system, perhaps all individuals taking care of children under five years of age should have at least one year of formal education in Child Growth and Development.
I have been in operation for slightly under one year, and set the bar for wages for Infant Toddler teachers, just to attract good professional educators who were working in the field and following their passion. Now, just settling into a good groove, I find myself in a struggle. Early in July, one of my teachers had to leave due to a sudden illness and complicated by that was and is the lack of Infant toddler teachers or even basic early childhood educators to act as subs while in her absence.
I had even tried to coax teachers from Vancouver and North and West Vancouver and to offer rental accommodation and pay for transport or fuel. Nothing — the higher cost of living in Squamish, the lack of regular buses from downtown make it virtually impossible to try and find people to work.
Sadly, I have had to close down my Group Care for infants hoping to find another teacher — in the meantime — while my teacher recovers and then operate a new multi-age program for children up to five years of age. The kicker is this — I really feel bad as I worked up until the 24th-hour to keep my toddler group together, but there was no longer any alternative to caring for them. I was alone. Working 10 to 12 hours a day, five days a week, with up to eight children is one crazy notion.
I must admit that the local Squamish teachers that I did have to step in while one of our team members was away are fabulous! They gave up their summer holidays from their other jobs, to help me out — to help out the families of children in our care. This is our profession, we love what we do. That’s why we do it. It’s our passion, and it shows. As an early childhood care collective, we really need a change. We need support, from our community, our families and our friends.
Maybe it’s just time to rethink our system.
After 25 years plus in this field, my joy is watching my own adorable two grandkids and their friends sharing snacks and playing in the yard under the watchful eyes of our fabulous ECE teachers.
Let’s keep our profession strong and help one another — stand up and be counted.
For the love of children — Kinderbarn Child Care Centre
Laurie Skinner
Valleycliffe
