Manitoba daycares frustrated after being told to reapply for inclusion cash during pandemic

A pandemic is the wrong time for the Manitoba government to pull back child-care funding from kids who need it the most, a Winnipeg child-care director says.

Ron Blatz, executive director of Discovery Children's Centre, believes the province is mistreating child-care providers by making them reapply for inclusion support funding they thought was already guaranteed — and, in his case, giving his daycare less money per child.

"Same child, same program, same needs — all of a sudden we've been clawed back to 71 per cent of that funding," Blatz said.

"I think it just feels like somebody is just being really, really cheap with us at a time they don't need to be."

The province's inclusion support program, or ISP, funds extra staff to work with children with physical or cognitive disabilities, or with behavioural or emotional issues.

The Manitoba government suspended funding agreements earlier in the pandemic and asked each centre to reapply for funding under a temporary model while spaces in each facility are gradually filled.

Many child-care facilities closed their doors sometime in March, when people were urged to stay home.

Manitoba is continuing to cap occupancy levels at child-care centres to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Facilities are limited to 24 children in a room at once.

The need for inclusion funding isn't the same as before, as many centres are caring for fewer children overall, a provincial spokesperson said, and existing staffing may be sufficient in some cases without further supports.

"Generally speaking, we are seeing a decline in the amount of inclusion support funding being provided to child-care centres," the official said in an email.

But Blatz said that's not the case at the 300-seat Discovery Children's Centre, even with only 81 children enrolled. He said staff are busier than ever adhering to strict sanitization guidelines and physical distancing.

"And in the middle of that, they are asking us to do [extra administrative] work that we shouldn't have to be doing," Blatz said. "I just think it's a poor way for a province to treat its people."

'Harsh on parents'

Blatz's child-care centre in St. James has brought back three kids who require inclusion support so far.

He knows of three more children eligible to return, but he said he cannot welcome them back until he's assured the province will support his centre with the same money it did before.

"It's really harsh on parents who were being called back to work and have a child that has extra needs, and I can't get an answer [from government] for five to six weeks," Blatz said.

He said the province already approves the funding for kids requiring inclusion support every fall.

The Manitoba Child Care Association has anecdotally heard some facilities are receiving less money than they expected, executive director Jodie Kehl said.

She said centres are frustrated by working through the bureaucracy. 

"I think programs are inundated with a new way of operating temporary child-care services right now and we thought this would be one thing that we could take off the plate, and just have that funding continue as it was in place pre-COVID."

'More paperwork for us to do'

Parent Connie Dimen was relieved Wednesday after a conversation with a provincial official confirmed that ISP funding is still available for children who need it. She previously wrote to the premier, condemning the sudden removal of funding.

Dimen was worried that she and her husband, both personal care-home workers, couldn't return to work if their daycare wasn't available to their daughter.

She hopes the government is providing centres with as much money as they need.

"To an extent, I understand the rationale because less bodies, less funding," she said.

"But at the same time, it really should be a matter of, 'Let's submit the information that might be new, but the funding is still in place.' That's not what's happening."

At Brooklands Day Care Centre in Winnipeg, Jeannie Bouvier has three ISP funding applications in progress, and she's holding off on accepting any more kids with ISP needs until the funding is secured.

"Unfortunately, it's just more paperwork for us to do, but they're telling us what we have to do to secure [our funding] for our children, and then that's what we have to do."

The province said it provided more than $612,000 in funding to support 820 children needing inclusion support between March 8 and April 4.

The government supported 1,429 children through the inclusion support program in the 2018-19 fiscal year for $13.5 million, according to provincial documents.