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Our vision
Working together for a community based, non-profit
child care system that is
non-profit
CCCABC supports the development of a comprehensive,
accessible and affordable non-profit child care
system in BC and across Canada.
Non-profit child care, also called not-for-profit
child care, is child care that exists solely to
provide a service to the community.
Non-profit child care is a public service –
just like education and health care. It is in
the public interest, must be publicly funded and
publicly accountable in its governance, and community
based in its service delivery.
In BC, non-profit child care services are delivered
by incorporated non-profit societies, municipal
governments, First Nations, and publicly funded
institutions e.g., hospitals, universities, colleges.
Article:
The Issue of Auspice (PDF)
high quality
A growing body of research confirms that the
quality of care that children receive during their
early years affects them throughout their lives.
High quality child care positively influences
children’s health and learning while poor
quality care can do harm.
High quality licensed child care features:
- High adult to child ratios
- Stable, consistent caregiving
- Small group sizes
- Staff who are well trained in early childhood
development and school age care
- Monitored health, safety and physical environments
- Decent wages and working conditions
- Unionized workplaces
All of these characteristics depend on and rely
on adequate and stable funding.
Factsheet:
What Does Research Tell Us About Quality in Child
Care?
Quality
Child Care and Developmentally Appropriate Programming
Fact Sheet
affordable
Today, quality child care is unaffordable for
the majority of BC families who need it. When
quality child care is affordable, parents choose
it. When it is not affordable, parents have no
choice but to use any care they can afford.
BC’s current user fee system leads to
two-tiered child care. Child care programs serving
affluent communities can collect higher than average
fees and have larger budgets to support quality.
Child care services in low income communities
must set lower fees and with reduced revenues,
the very children who could most benefit from
access to enriched experiences are least likely
to receive them.
accessible
All children, regardless of their abilities or
their families’ income level, geographic
location or employment status, are entitled to
access quality child care and early childhood
experiences, programs and services.
Currently, access to child care is not equitable
across BC communities or socio-economic classes.
Barriers to access particularly affect rural families,
aboriginal families, shift workers or families
whose children require extra supports.
Provincial
Child Care Community Consultations Summary
(see page 3, Accessibility)
Universality
and Accessibility Fact Sheet
publicly funded
Given the importance of the early years and the
demonstrated economic benefits to society of investing
in quality child care, it is time to move from
a user-pay system to a publicly funded child care
system.
Despite the high numbers of mothers in Canada’s
workforce, Canada is still one of the few highly
developed industrialized countries in the world
that does not have a publicly funded child care
system and comprehensive family policies.
In a publicly funded system, child care is treated
as a public good, rather than a commodity. Governments
directly fund a range of child care and early
childhood programs that are community-based and
community-delivered.
The
Benefits and Costs of Good Child Care: The Economic
Rationale for Public Investment in Young Children
accountable
In a publicly funded, community-based system,
child care services have higher levels of accountability.
They are accountable for using public funds to
enhance quality, to treat child care workers with
respect, and to ensure services are affordable
and accessible. They are accountable to the communities
and families they serve to promote healthy growth
and development of each child.
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