Rural daycare to be spared “cookie cutter” approach – ministry

Jeff Green | Jun 23, 2011

Pam Musson is a director with the Ontario Ministry of Education who is playing a central role in developing funding models for childcare in the province in the coming years, and she delivered the keynote address to the Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS) Annual General Meeting at the Bedford Hall on June 16.

“We know that northern, rural and remote circumstances are different from urban ones,” she said, as she began her remarks.

Musson was invited to the meeting by NFCS Executive Director Don Amos, after she headed a delegation from the Ministry of Education to the NFCS Child Centre in early May. The daycare, which has served children from the age of 6 months until they enter grade 1 on a not-for-profit basis for over 20 years, faced a cut in enrolment last September when all-day kindergarten was introduced to area schools. The change pulled all four and five-year-old children from costly daycare into the universally funded school environment.

The cut in numbers at the daycare has been difficult for the agency to address, and a further impact will be felt next fall when the next group of four-year-olds leaves for kindergarten.

Musson said, “Our fully funded, full day program for 4 and 5-year-olds, uses a child-centred, play-based approach. This is not the kindergarten you remember from years ago. It builds on children's assets and their strengths. And as education now has responsibility for daycare, we are starting to weave in the care for younger children. It's not about the Ministry of Education assuming that role and telling you what to do; it's about all of us learning together how to move forward.

“We need to have what I call courageous conversations, where we face the very real difficulties. Don and I have talked about the impact on this community and about how we must re-engineer that system for the 0 to 3.8-year-olds. We will be particularly looking directly at the day nurseries, and at the funding formula for daycare, and our policy direction will be done with consultation. From a northern, rural and remote perspective we have a working group to address the different circumstances”

The funding crunch faced in rural daycare centres across the province will not see much change in the short term, however. Any change in the funding policy will take months or years to implement, and Musson said that the fact there is a provincial election coming up in three months has shut down all work on policy at the ministry for the time being.

“This is something I'm not used to, since I don't come from a policy background,” she said.

Transitional year for NFCS

Earlier in the meeting Don Amos reported not only on the challenges facing the agency’s daycare services, which he said have been stabilized for the time being thanks some extraordinary efforts by Child Centre staff.

“We have also, along with our partners at Southern Frontenac Community Services and Frontenac County, been able to roll out Rural Routes Transportation Services as a county-wide service, an effort that started long before I came to the agency,” Amos said.

He also talked about the 35th anniversary celebrations the agency held last August, which was a picnic at Sharbot Lake beach that attracted over 200 people of all ages. The scope of the Northern Rural Youth partnership that is led by NFCS has increased over the past year, and a two-year Trillium grant has recently been approved for the program.

NFCS staff also stepped up their involvement in the United Way fundraising campaign this year, and were recognised by the United Way for that. The United Way funds the family counselling service of the agency.

In financial terms, Amos talked of the changes in financial systems that have been implemented to accommodate the Local Health Integration Network, which funds seniors' services offered by the agency. And also on a financial note, he pointed out that the agency has moved from a deficit to a surplus financial standing over the past year.

After Don Amos’s remarks, the role of NFCS in the lives of seniors came into focus with the awarding of an Honorary Life membership to Joan Wyatt, who has been a stalwart volunteer at the Day Away Program that NFCS runs for seniors each week.

Catherine Tysick, who runs the Day Away program and a host of programs for seniors with funding from the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, presented a slide show that demonstrated not only the range of volunteer activities Joan does for the program, but her broad smile and enthusiasm as well.

Finally, Pat Denna provided a client’s eye view of NFCS’s services for seniors. Pat described a number of difficulties that she has faced as someone who lives alone in Central Frontenac, and how every time she thought she would have to move, NFCS has been able to help out. She has used counselling, transportation, help with housekeeping, meals on wheels and more.

“I don’t know what I’d do without NFCS,” she said,

Staff recognition awards were presented at the meeting to Claire Richer (5 years) Susan Wilby (20 years) and Joyce Lewis (25 years).