Below is a copy of a News Release regarding new provincial regulations that have been announced for child care in British Columbia.
VICTORIA – A new provincial child care licensing regulation will increase spaces and the number of working early childhood educators, Minister of State for Child Care Linda Reid announced today.
“We consulted extensively with parents, child care providers and professionals, and the Ministry of Health,” said Reid. “The new regulation will open more toddler spaces, support recruitment and retention of early childhood educators and promote the health and safety of children.”
Three key changes address recommendations from family child care providers and early child care education professionals:
· Family child care operators will now have the flexibility to take in a maximum of seven children, newborn to five years, without having to reserve spaces for infants and school-age children. This will leave more spaces for toddlers and pre-school age children.
· A new category of child care licensing – Multi-Age Child Care – will allow eight children in a home with one ECE-certified individual, an increase from seven children under the Family Child Care category.
· New ECE graduates will be given one-year certificates to work as fully qualified staff immediately upon graduation. Child care operators will have additional qualified staff to draw from when hiring, and new graduates can get their required 500 hours of work experience needed for full licensing.
Since 2001, the Province has created 3,300 new spaces bringing the total number of government funded, licensed child care spaces to more than 82,300. The Province is investing $12.5 million in major capital funding to support the creation of licensed child care spaces, with a goal of creating an additional 2,000 spaces throughout B.C. by 2010.
For more information about these changes, contact the Community Care Facilities Licensing Program at your local health authority. Parents can also get more information on government-funded child care programs by contacting the Child Care Call Centre toll-free at 1-888-338-6622.
