No Subsidy for Occasional Care

When we opened in 2011, the Occasional Child Care license was brand new. No outside space required, broader care perspectives, and a double-wide age range, capped at 40 per month. And ineligible for subsidy. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Buddings was the first centre to use the license to offer flexible booking (as reported by the CBC at the time), and possibly the first centre to offer flexible one hour's notice childcare in North America.

Fast forward...

In 2018, BC elected the New Democratic Party and BC Greens  to legislate the province, thanks in part to the support from families engaged by the promises for childcare reform. Premier Horgan acknowledged the need to expand care options, fund quality programs, and make them more affordable, especially for low and middle-income families.

He specifically highlighted the need for "flexibility" and it's no surprise that more centres are offering our model: it's what families want!

Policies in childcare are changing for the first time decades. Quality care is becoming more affordable and more accessible, and we'd like to see the promise to make it more flexible come true as well. 

 

Despite the premier's promises last year to work on the problem, and our willingness to help, despite meetings last summer between Buddings and the Ministry of Children and Families, and the Childcare Minister, Katrina Chen (contact her here), we are still waiting for word. View the CBC news call-out from last April.

We want to keep the pressure on, but... 

 

They need to hear from you!

While everyone in the world is reassessing their needs, and deciding what the "new normal" will entail, we know the need for Flexible Care is bigger than ever. If you would like the BC government to recognize Flexible Care with a license that qualifies for subsidies, and offers up to 80 hours of care per month, please sign our petition here!