EXCERPTS:
Several families from across York Region say they've been left in the lurch because of a government approach to child care they say is misdirected and out of date.
The parents, who have lost their places at a cherished Thornhill day care, say the Ministry of Education focuses on the wrong issues and is tearing apart a safe and caring child care arrangement.
Parents who use Creating the Shade PreSchool, located near Bayview Avenue and Hwy. 407, were told last week too many children were enrolled and some of them would have to find alternate arrangements immediately.
Nine children had been attending the unlicensed centre, supervised by owner Jenni Groves-Morris and two teachers, on a full and part-time basis. They were told they were contravening Ontario rules that allow no more than five unrelated children, under age 10 to be supervised by one individual without a licence, regardless of the number of adults present.
Ms Groves-Morris was required to turn away four of the children under her care or she and her two employees would face a $2,000 daily fine.
Parents say the news caused turmoil.
"Kids are being given no time to transition, no time to say goodbye ... playmates suddenly gone. This is just wrong," said Shakufe Virani. "There's not a lot of day cares out there."
Jill Renwick, of Richmond Hill, sent her oldest daughter to the centre and her second daughter, 9 months, is scheduled to start in November at the home-based centre where she said "everyone feels like one big family".
She said she has spent a week looking for another space and it has been an eye-opener.
‘I understand there's legislation, but there should be discretion in its enforcement. If they felt they needed to enforce it to the letter, they should have given some time ... The kids aren't in any danger. They're not running in the street, in dirty diapers'
"It's largely unaffordable, huge wait lists and not the quality of care most parents would expect ... I can't imagine what working parents are supposed to do. They're not going to just pawn their kids off on the next available place."
"I understand there's legislation, but there should be discretion in its enforcement," added parent Lavina Corriero.
"If they felt they needed to enforce it to the letter, they should have given some time ... The kids aren't in any danger. They're not running in the street in dirty diapers.
"We realize that the ministry won't do anything to reverse its ruling on our beloved preschool, but perhaps (we can) encourage it to re-evaluate the way its advisors respond and enforce legislation."
The parents say their queries to the ministry were responded to with form letters and links to government websites and they were invited to provide feedback to a government discussion paper regarding modernization of child care in Ontario.
Provincial licensing standards have not undergone a thorough review since 1983, states a letter by Salpi DiGiandomenico, a program advisor with the ministry's early learning division.
That, says Ms Virani, is "absolutely ridiculous ... They have not re-opened or reviewed the legislation related to day cares for 20 years. That is disgusting. Policies need reviewing much more frequently than that."
Ms Groves-Morris, meanwhile, said the experience has been an emotional one.
"I am passionate about children and families and feel somewhat responsible for seemingly throwing them away."
But she said she has faced red tape and roadblocks at every turn as she tried to satisfy the ministry's expectations.
She said she tried for years to find a suitable location, one that wasn't in a strip mall or commercial building, but when she did find one, on 16th Avenue, near another child care centre and Montessori schools, she learned it would cost $20,000 to fast-forward the rezoning process, without any guarantee it would pass.
"I lost all faith and hope then," she said, "I decided I'd just focus on the children."
"The (child care) industry is antique and not child-focused and changes must be made," she said.
"All facilities, home-based or other, must be accountable for the work they do with children, but the ministry's focus has always been the larger child care settings, which many parents I've spoken to do not necessarily feel is appropriate for their children."
Large centres are often staffed by under-paid teachers in industrial-zoned locations while others are hidden in basements with too many children, she said.
She continues to employ the teachers temporarily to help with the transition for students who remain, but she said it was heartbreaking to say goodbye to four of the children.
"How do you turn away a child in the twinkling of an eye, to have the place where you had a sense of belonging taken away from you?"
Gary Wheeler, education ministry spokesperson, said the maximum number of five children for informal care was developed based on research and consultations carried out over several years.
Ministry staff treat these complaints as a priority, he said.
-reprinted from YorkRegion.com