The case of Arto Howley, the baby who died at a Coquitlam daycare, raises fear and anger in many parents.
So many questions and concerns arise from this tragedy that it's hard to know where to start. Surely by now, rules for daycare licensing and follow-up inspections should be seamless and effective because the idea of people leaving babies and children in the hands of a stranger is a well-established part of our social and economic culture.
Yet, for some reason, unaccountably, daycare is still seen as but a necessary evil and there is little or no oversight, especially in the case of unlicensed daycares, which are inspected on a complaint-only basis.
The information is not freely available, either. Parents must call the Tri-Cities licensing office to find out if their chosen daycare has been the source of complaints.
A more rigorous system of checks and balances is necessary and yet parents are really on their own; in fact, the health authority doesn't even keep track of how many unlicensed daycares are operating.
When choosing care for an infant, toddler or pre-schooler, parents have to be alert to any issues. They need to know, for example, what the rules are regarding numbers of children allowed. But they might not always be able to judge whether the rules are being followed. For some families, money will be a factor and they will have to choose based on a balance of costs and operating conditions.
The parents of Arto Howley faced all these challenges and more. They thought they were making the right choice when picking Rattle-n-Roll daycare. They were doing the best they could and yet were not aware that the owner had been the subject of numerous complaints that were supposedly resolved but might have raised a red flag.
This is a terrible shame that better oversight, more education for the public and caregivers, and increased resources to keep daycare rates affordable, may have prevented.
