Many Hamilton parents will play the waiting game a while longer for child care
Published July 2, 2020 at 7:51 pm
As we move further along in Phase 2 of reopening in Ontario, many Hamilton parents are still waiting for child care options to help accommodate their return to work.
As we move further along in Phase 2 of reopening in Ontario, many Hamilton parents are still waiting for child care options to help accommodate their return to work.
It looks like, for many, they will be waiting indefinitely for the care they rely on.
In a press release from the City of Hamilton earlier this week, staff noted that just under half of Hamilton’s child care programs are opening in the coming weeks and months or have a plan in place that they are working on.
There are still dozens that the city doesn’t know what their plans are.
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When it was announced in early June that child care centres could start the process of opening up to help spur on the province’s recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was immediately clear that the prospect of such an undertaking was much more complex than originally planned.
In Hamilton, the city’s director of the Emergency Operations Centre, Paul Johnson, initially called the plans to reopen ‘optimistic’ and cautioned residents that a return to operation, at any capacity, would take a significant amount of time.
He noted at the time that given the protocols that would have to be in place to make the centres a safe place for children, staff and parents, there would likely be fewer than half of Hamilton’s pre-pandemic child-care spots available.
It was also determined early on that Hamilton child-care centres would have to train staff in new protocols and would have to pass a public health inspection before they can reopen.
There are 233 licensed child care sites and just over 14,400 child care spaces (pre-pandemic) in the City of Hamilton.
There are 130 programs that normally operate full year, and had planned to operate this summer. Sixty-four (49 per cent) of those programs are open or have a plan in place to open in July.
The city says that several — 11 in total — are preparing to open (or already have opened) this week, while another 15 will be opening next week.
This week’s press release says 38 are planning to open in July/August (one is in August, so far).
“At this time, the other 66 have not indicated their plans,” the release says. “Twenty-nine of these are small school-age programs that operate in schools.”
For more information on Hamilton’s reopening, visit their website. For more information on child care reopening in the city, visit the city’s website here.
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