By Dylana Milobar

Kamloops Child Development Centre chosen to offer low-cost child care

Nov 10, 2018 | 7:16 AM

KAMLOOPS — Parents in the Kamloops area will now have access to more affordable child care.

The Kamloops Child Development Centre has been chosen as one of more than 50 sites by the B.C government to offer the low-cost care as part of the universal child care prototype project.

Director of Education, Helen Blair says the cost difference is significant.

“So if you have two children here, it would have cost you $824 for a baby, and even if it was an after schooler, as long as they’re not here all day or for Pro-D days or summer holidays, it would be $443. So now, it costs everyone $200.”

This project, which will cover 117 of the roughly 140 kids the centre serves, is funded through a 60 million dollar investment as part of the Province’s Early Learning and Child Care Agreement with the federal government.

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Blair says for parents, that lower cost means far less stress in trying to find proper child care.

“I was saying to people, you know, the parents are so over the top excited, and some of them actually burst into tears.”

Going forward, Blair says the initiative could eventually let parents have their children in full-time.

“What’s happened is we’ve had two parents working, but their child care, they couldn’t really afford it so they would put them in for maybe 2 or 3 days a week,” She explains, “Now, they can afford to have their children in for the full week. Which of course benefits the children to be here all week rather than bouncing from the centre to somebody else, to somebody else.”

The centre has been operating at full capacity for a while, and according to Blair, the waiting list to get in has 100 children on it.

“I just hoping that at the end of this prototype, the government and people will realize how important child care is, and that we have to make it affordable so both parents can work.”