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From Changes to province's childcare system worrying parents on waiting lists 

Cynthia Livingston loves being home with her two-month-old son Owen, but when her maternity leave runs out next April she doesn’t know if any childcare spaces will be available.
Infant care spaces on P.E.I. are extremely difficult to find. According to provincial data, of the estimated 2,948 full-time spaces across the province, only 192 are for children under two.
That’s why Livingston, like many parents, has her name on several childcare waiting lists. She had to start getting on those lists when she was still pregnant to have even a hope of getting an open space by the time she resumes work next spring.
Her choice program for little Owen is at the C.H.A.N.C.E.S. Family Centre in Charlottetown. She got on their list in November, but there are still over 100 people ahead of her.
She’s got her fingers crossed for C.H.A.N.C.E.S., especially because many of the early learning centres she called told her they couldn’t even put her on a wait list.
“I was just told ‘call back in June’ because they didn’t know if they would have anything available because they might close due to financial reasons,” Livingston said. “It made me feel really anxious because I have a year’s maternity and I know that I have to go back next April and if you’re on a waiting list it’s really just a waiting game.”
Livingston is not alone.
Parents across P.E.I. looking for child and infant care within the next year are finding their search confusing and difficult since most centres do not know how they will look or whether they will even remain open within the next few months.
The province announced sweeping changes to the early learning system on P.E.I. last week. Government plans to transition many daycares into provincial Early Years Centres. These centres will charge regulated fees, have certified staff, will be open year-round and will offer a provincially standardized curriculum.
Current childcare owners and operators have until July 1 to decide whether they want to transition into one of these provincial daycare centres or stay in the private sector.
The province also has a plan to deal with the childcare waiting lists. A centralized wait list will be created and managed by the Early Childhood Development Association (ECDA). But details about how it will operate and who will be given priority once the list is created have yet to be worked out.

“Whether you’d call your existing centre or how do we work together so that parents don’t have to make several calls to get on a waiting list — all those things will be worked out by ECDA and the advisory board to the (provincial preschool) initiative,” said Carolyn Simpson, government’s early childhood development and kindergarten manager.

Centres first need to identify what they will be doing before any next steps, like the centralized waiting list, can be developed, Simpson said. The list is not expected to be created until early fall.

In the meantime, parents like Livingston who need childcare spaces within the next year regardless of all these changes are left in limbo.
“It does make me anxious because I don’t know — should I start calling more private care or home care? I really like C.H.A.N.C.E.S. and I’d really like it if he could come here but there’s a good chance he won’t be able to just because of the numbers. Then where will he go?”

via www.theguardian.pe.ca