A Revelstoke child care site has been added to the growing list of $10-a-day child care centres subsidized by the provincial government. Corner Stones Child Care Centre, which accommodates 10 children of infant to toddler age and 20 children from age three to kindergarten age, is now able to offer these savings to families.
Corner Stones Child Care Centre is the second child care site to be approved for $10 a day child care in Revelstoke. Stepping Stones Child Care Centre was approved to offer the lower cost spaces to families in 2018. The addition of the second child care centre puts Revelstoke at 52 child care spaces designated as $10-a-day spaces.
“Revelstoke Child Care Society is honoured that Corner Stones was approved for $10-a-day child care in February 2022,” Revelstoke Child Care Society executive director Linda Chell said.
“The addition of a second facility offering $10-a-day child care will benefit families who are currently receiving care and families in Revelstoke for years to come.”
The $10-a-day ChildCareBC program began in 2018 and has increased the number of lower cost spaces by 4,000 since then. In the 2021 budget, the provincial government committed to expanding the number of $10-a-day spaces in the province by converting 3,750 licensed child care spaces into the lower cost spaces.
But another roadblock remains when it comes to accessing child care in Revelstoke. There are simply not enough spaces for all of the families who need them, whether affordable or otherwise. There are currently around 360 licensed family child care spaces in the community. This number includes family child care centres, group child care centres, preschools, and school aged care centres. Many of these centres are full and not accepting referrals.
The two child care centres in town run by the Revelstoke Child Care Society have no available spaces and a waitlist over 70 families long. Some of these families on the waitlist are in immediate need of child care, while others are trying to get spots as far in the future as 2023.
“When a family gets a space for their infant, they are usually with the same child care for the next four years until their child goes to kindergarten. This is a long turn over time for space availability,” Chell said.
Chell says that this lack of spaces is partially due to a staff shortage of early childhood educators and that some facilities are still not able to operate at full capacity due to the pandemic. There are also a number of licensed family child care spaces temporarily closed.
“With the cost of living, including housing, more Revelstoke families [need] to have both parents working. Like so many sectors, the housing costs [and] high rent also affect the ability to attract new early childhood educators to the community,” Chell said.
In many cases, this lack of spaces means that parents can’t return to work when the time comes. This then contributes to the ongoing labour crisis in a town in dire need of workers.
As previously reported by the Mountaineer, creating more child care spaces is the only way to meet the demand. While affordable care will help many families, the spaces still need to be available for the child care to even be accessed.
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