One local daycare centre says the new public daycare program is absolutely doomed to fail at this point.

Julia Gwyn-Morris from Daydreams ELCC in High River says the families and staff at the early learning centre have some major complaints and worries about the provincial program.

"What I'm really upset about is that the current families on subsidy are caught in the middle and their fees are not being lowered, in fact, they're increasing for many families who make a household income equal to or less than $50,000 annually."

Under the new UCP's provincial program, more families will be eligible for subsidy than before, however, those on the current subsidy will receive less money from the government than they did before.

Gwyn-Morris says part of the shortfall is that the numbers are based on an average cost of care, that is less than what most operators are currently charging. That's the average cost of $1172 per month for infant care according to the UCP is closer to $1300 hundred in Daydreams and similar centres.

"I'm not sure what this average is, or how they managed to get to this particular number, but I have confirmed with many different operators who have gone through the numbers just like I have, and literally it doesn't matter. Those people making $50,000 and under in my centre will still end up paying more next month than they did for December."

When posed this question, the UCP Child and Family Services spokesperson say parents currently receiving a subsidy are already on their way to paying lower fees and will continue to benefit from both of these programs.

According to the UCP, this new agreement leverages Alberta’s strong existing subsidy model that supported thousands of low and middle-income families.

They provide an example, in June 2021, of the children receiving subsidy in Alberta, almost half received child care for $13 per day or less:

• A family earning under $50,000 with an infant attending a licensed daycare program with an average program fee of $1172 per month currently receives $741 per month in subsidy and pays a parent portion of $431 per month.

In January, with both the operating grant and subsidy, this family can expect their child care costs to reduce by an additional $160 per month. This means this family can expect to pay about $271 per month.

Gwyn Morris says that's not how it's working for her families.

"We had subsidized parents paying absolutely nothing in parent fees until the UCP cancelled the subsidized the program in March, under this new program they'll be paying at minimum $271 per month."

NDP MLA for Edmonton/Whitemud and official critic to Child and Family Services Rakhi Pancholi says the rollout of the whole program has been flawed, rushed, and poorly explained.

"Much to my frustration, I have now as the official opposition critic been put in a position a number of times where I have to explain the Government of Alberta's own daycare program and childcare funding. There has been very very poor communication coming from the government given to child care providers and to parents about what's anticipated to start happening sometime in January."

Pancholi says we know parents and operators can expect two changes in January for certain.

"Essentially what I understand from what I can see from the information providers to daycare providers and parents is that more parents will eligible for subsidy than before however, they will be receiving less subsidy than they were receiving under the current model and in addition, there will be an Operator Grant Fund that will be provided directly to the child care provider based on the age of the child. So each program will get a certain amount of funding for each child based on their age so infants will get more than pre-school age children."

The combination of both the subsidy and the grant is what is supposed to lower parents' child care fees, says Pancholi.

"So parents are still seeing notice of what their childcare fees are going to be, and for many programs that fee will be increasing in January for lots of very good reasons which is tough for parents to see an increase in their fees, but it will be reduced by whatever that operating grant is and then if you're eligible for a subsidy then you will also see that reduce your fee further."

Pancholi says in most cases the combination of the operators grant and the affordability subsidy does lower fees, but not for everybody.

"It's not actually lowering fees for the lowest income families by the same amount that the fees are being lowered for higher-income families, it's inequitable."

She says by the above numbers, someone with a household income of $49,9000 will be paying a fee only $66 less than someone making $190,000.

Under this model, the lowest income families will still not be able to afford child care, according to Pancholi.

"This system the way it appears to be rolling out is not supporting those most in need. The Edmonton Council for Early Learning and Child Care issued a paper that addresses this very question, about why lower-income families are still finding child care unaffordable and it's because they're seeing the least amount of change in their fees."

The solution, Pancholi says, is deeply frustrating.

"They're (the UCP) is basically ignoring the lessons that were learned from the NDP $25/day pilot program. Now their criticism of our program was that it was just that - a pilot program, that it was not available to all programs but 122 centers across the province, but the point of that program was to test out what kind of funding model and support model could be used to improve not only affordability but also the quality of programming."

She adds, "The UCP has three years worth of data that details how to roll out a program that meets the needs of affordability for families but also makes sure that those who are most in need gets the most support and that the quality of programming improves, so what we could do differently and our plan is on albertafutures.ca where we've laid out our proposals for the federal childcare program, we make it really clear that the model that should work, is what was happening under the $25/day program."

For Gwyn-Morris, another area for frustration is that parents haven't been made aware they will need their children in a program for a hundred hours per month, or they'll be paying the difference.

"Say you're sick, and your child has to be out of the program for a week, or a family takes a vacation or even just a day off together, if for any reason you are under that 100 hours minimum attendance, you'll then be invoiced by the centres and day homes for the full amount as you won't meet subsidy requirements."

 Gwyn-Morris says it's an oversight that makes no sense in the time of COVID.

More information on the new publicly-funded system can be at the Government of Alberta's website.

 

READ MORE: Locals Have Mixed Reaction To Nationalized Day Care Plan

READ MORE: Alberta Childcare Costs About To Drop By Half

 

Questions, comments, or story ideas? Email news@okotoksonline.com