A major challenge in procuring child care being outlined in a new three-year action plan by the City of Kamloops.
It’s hoped the newly-adopted report can help create more available child care spaces, which appear to be in desperate need at the moment.
As part of internal staff research released to city council, the study has found a massive need for child care among the over 12,500 care-aged children (0-12 yrs) who live in Kamloops.
Breakdown by age range the number of children in Kamloops who need child care/via City of Kamloops
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Hartson says she and her team collected their information from readily available census information, as well as from surveys of nearly 300 parents and nearly 40 different child care providers in Kamloops.
‘What we heard from families… the clearest message was that the access still remains a challenge,” noted Hartson in here presentation. “About one-in-three of the families that were surveyed were unable to secure care for all the children who needed it, with the greatest pressures being in the infant age group, as well as the school-aged care.”
Table detailing the available number of child care spaces in Kamloops based on each neighborhood/via City of Kamloops
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At the same time, Hartson’s report also alludes to cost pressures being one of the biggest concerns of parents, with 10$ a day child care still a pipe dream.
“Affordability inclusion — although programs exist — still do remain challenges due to affordability pressures on families,” noted Hartson. “That has impact folks, needing to reduce their work hours, relying on informal care or going without care.”
With the clear shortfall in child care spaces in Kamloops, the new report — adopted by the outgoing council as one of its last acts as a group before the election — recommends a number of steps that can be taken by the City to make it easier to find child care.
This includes various steps on a municipal level, such as making child care part of the official community planning strategy, a a review of parking requirements and a possible easing of them to create more space kids, while easier for care providers to find appropriate spaces to set up their operations, while also making it easier for would-be child care providers to access and navigate the municipal system to figure out the best location for them to set up shop.
Photo displaying photographic rendering of shade sails used in plans for 76 seat child care facility in Valleyview/via L.A. West Associates Kamloops
This comes as council gave tentative approval this week to over 100 new child care spaces at two different facilities to open toward the periphery of the city.
This includes full rezoning approvals for a new daycare option in Westsyde, where the owner of a home has to make safety changes to the house that will allow for as many as 32 children to be minded by 8 staffers at any one time.
At the same time, City Council has pushed a proposed child care facility in Valleyview to the open-house phase of its redevelopment.
The would-be child care provider is hoping to turn the one-time Twin Rivers Cuisine restaurant and catering location along the East Trans Canada into a child care facility which could accommodate 76 children and 18 staff members at any one time.
The location of the proposed Bee Yourself Childcare site would be just east of the notorious former Tournament Capital Inn, which itself is now being redeveloped into a mix of hotel, apartment and commercial space.
