Governments talk big about child care, but the struggle to find a spot is real, parents say

When Julie Jones, 46, had her daughter five years ago, she assumed she'd eventually enrol her in a licensed daycare centre. 

Jones, a librarian at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., felt that a group setting with other kids and trained adults would be the best option for her daughter.

She thought it might be tricky to secure a spot but figured her research skills would come to use. 

"I have always thought, 'Oh it'll work out," she said. "I'll be able to figure it out." 

Once her parental leave was over, reality set in. Despite putting her daughter on multiple wait lists, nothing was available. 

"It was a really, really stressful time," she said.

In recent years, both the federal and provincial governments have frequently touted the benefits of licensed group child care and early childhood education.

Yet today in B.C., there are only enough licensed child care spaces for 25 per cent of children under 12, according to the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C., with the toughest ages to serve being those under three, and school-age children who need before- and after-school care. 

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the average enrolment in early childhood education for children under two is 36 per cent in member countries, which include Canada.

For countries that provide universal early childhood education, nearly all children age three to five are enrolled in formal child care. 

CBC News heard from parents who commuted an additional two hours a day to take their child to daycare, others who feared bringing up safety concerns for fear of losing their daycare spot, and others still who paid for months of care they didn't need to secure a place for their kid. 

Sharon Gregson, provincial spokesperson for the $10-a-day child care campaign, says the difficulty of finding child care isn't new. What has changed in her 30 years as an early childhood education advocate is parents's expectations. 

"Senior public health officials and senior government officials, both provincially and federally, talk about child care as an essential service," Gregson said. 

The disparity between government talk and the availability of licensed child care, Gregson says, can be a harsh reality for parents when it comes time to start looking for care for their kids. 

Thousands of new spaces

And yet there has been some improvement. 

In a written statement, the B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care said it has funded the creation of almost 32,000 licensed spaces since 2018, with more than 11,800 of these new child-care spaces now operational.

"There is still more work to do, but we are making progress on building access to child care as a core service that people can depend on because affordable, quality, inclusive child care is good for families, communities and the economy," said the ministry.

Gregson agrees there has been progress. 

But she also points to countries like Germany, where all children age 12 months and above have a legal right to child care, which is subsidized. Children between age three and six are entitled to a place at preschool. 

"We would never, ever expect that a child in British Columbia couldn't attend kindergarten or Grade 5 because there were no spaces or that their families couldn't afford a space," she said. 

"That's how some countries look at early childhood education, look at child care as well, and that's where we need to move to."

Clear data

Laurie Ford, director of the early childhood education program at the University of British Columbia, agrees. 

Ford says there is ample research to suggest that early childhood education helps young children with their emotional, cognitive and social skills. 

"The data is quite clear that it is a foundation that launches you for success in life," she said.

Although the province continues to invest in creating new child-care spaces, Gregson worries that progress may be stalled because of a lack of qualified early childhood educators. 

"By fiscal 2027/28, 40,000 new spaces aren't going to happen. Even if they're built, there is nobody to work in them," she said. 

The province said it has invested $540 million since 2018 to expand the number of training seats and bursaries for early childhood education students, fund professional development and peer mentoring supports, and increase wages by $4/hour. 

According to WorkBC, the median income for an early childhood educators and assistants is about $20/hour, not including the province's $4/hour wage enhancement.