Alberta child care standards may cost

Community Action, Jan 23, 2008

Will Alberta's new child care standards cause the closing of day care spaces as operators are forced to higher more staff to meet the lower staff ratios?

Weslyn Mather, Liberal critic for Children's Services, claims that the new regulations will close a number of day care spaces unless the government acts. Mather said, "What's being proposed are regulations that do not do that. If anything, it will diminish the number of spaces in Alberta for child care because it is not doing anything to encourage people to go into that field."

The government of Alberta is offering a revised draft of its new Child Care Licensing Regulation in its second round of public consultations on its child care standards.

The government changed some of the regulations after the first round of consultations in 2007. The proposed rules governing how meals and snacks are provided, and the location of washrooms have been revised. The newer version keeps the current standards in place as some programs would have difficulty because of the lack of physical space in some existing facilities.

Staff-to-child ratios in day cares and staff certification requirements have also been revised to a lower standard. Day care operators in Alberta warn that the new regulation will produce a rapid rise in fees unless they are amended again. A lower ratio of children to staff will translate into higher costs for day care owners and could add as much as $100 a month to the fees charged to parents.