The Editor,
Access to affordable, qualified childcare is a key issue important to our family and our fellow B.C. families. It’s a necessity.
We have a childcare crisis. There are not enough licensed, affordable childcare spaces for our children. From a recent article published by CBC News, only a quarter of B.C. children five years and younger have the opportunity to have a spot in a licensed daycare. This means that our children do not have equal opportunity to be cared for in a safe environment.
Our babies. Our toddlers. Our children. Our most innocent, vulnerable, curious little people, deserve the basic necessities in life. They deserve to be given equal opportunity to be cared for by qualified, well-trained and licensed professionals in a regulated daycare.
Every parent deserves the right to know they can hug and kiss their child goodbye, work a full day and return to their child knowing they have been taken care of.
The recent economic study led by Robert Fairholm highlights that there will be benefits for all if we make $10-a-day daycare happen. Parents can have affordable, licensed care, our children will be given equal opportunity to be cared for in qualified and regulated daycares, and the B.C. government will gain higher economic returns.
It’s emotionally and financially draining to go through this process. We are a family of two boys who know first-hand the struggle and traumatic transition it takes to return to work after having a baby and desperately, stressfully trying to find care for our children. We pay nearly $2,000 per month for childcare. Can we afford it? No, but we’re left with no other option.
Unlicensed daycares are not an option. They are unregulated. They come with too many “what ifs.”
And babies have died.
Our hearts hurt for Baby Mac, who died Jan. 18, 2017, at a daycare in Vancouver. Our hearts hurt for Baby Arto, who died Jan. 17, 2011 at an unlicensed daycare in Port Coquitlam. Their deaths were preventable.
Every parent deserves the right to have their babies come home every day.
I plead with you, our neighbours, our employers, our colleagues, our families, our friends, our fellow British Columbians, to please show your support. Speak out against this childcare crisis by supporting $10-a-day daycare.
Dean Youchezin and
Tara King, Coquitlam
