Child-care spaces at a premium for Dal community

A group of students, faculty and staff are leading the charge to create child-care space that is desperately needed, but obstacles are appearing at every turn.

Jessica Young and her son Aiden were lucky enough to get child-care service through Dalhousie, a struggle many parents face with limited day-care resources available (Photo: Steven Woodhead)

Jessica Young and her six-year-old son Aiden are two of the lucky ones.

After moving here from Calgary to attend Dalhousie University as a student, Young was shocked when she encountered the immense waiting lists for child-care placements at nearly every day-care facility in Halifax. It was only after repeated calling and a stroke of luck, says Young, that they were able to find Aiden a place at Dalhousie's University Children's Centre - a facility meant to cater to the needs of hundreds of staff, faculty and students in the same position that Young was.

She is pleased with the services offered by the centre, but the future would have been difficult had Aiden not gotten a spot when he did.

"I probably could have found someone to watch him, but I don't know if I could have afforded it," says Young. "Private care could have cost $100 to $200 a week. I still pay over $100 a month ... the government subsidy doesn't cover the full cost."

Young was fortunate, but many are still left in the wilderness. That is why Alison Thompson, a Dalhousie chemistry professor who returned to work from maternity leave in August, has created a group of about 30 staff, faculty and students to raise awareness about the painful lack of options available to those who try to balance school, work and their families at once.

The University Children's Centre, which is located at 6101 South St. and has been operating since 1967, is licensed to provide care for 78 children under the age of five. The sister facility at the Life Sciences Centre has places for 30 school-aged kids.

The centre reports the wait list for child-care currently at 263 children. In some cases, the wait can take years.

Trying to make a change

Thompson says that the campaign to raise awareness about the child-care problem has been successful, but only to a point.

"The response has been positive and supportive," she says, "but we need to move to the next step beyond just verbal support."

The group's main goal is to enable an application from Dalhousie for the provincial government's "Child-care Expansion and Replacement Loan." They hope that the loan, which is 75 per cent forgivable for non-profit day-care facilities, might just enable Dalhousie to build two new day-care facilities that could support 100 children each.

But the problem runs deeper than just an application. First, provincial regulations stipulate that every day-care facility must have a certain amount of physical space both indoor and outdoor per child. In Dalhousie's case, just one new facility with a capacity for 100 children would require 7,000 square feet of space, both inside and out. Thompson's group is hoping for two such facilities.

The other problem is timing. Dalhousie has been working for months on a new master campus plan for the university - a document that will outline the direction of the school for the future, both in terms of campus renewal and expansion. Any new day-care facilities would have to be included somewhere in the master plan, and Thompson and her group have succeeded in having day-care put on the priorities list while the master plan is still in its consultation phase.

The consultation phase, however, is not expected to be complete until mid 2009. The deadline for the provincial loan is January. And, in order to qualify for the loan, Dalhousie must have a firm proposal in place for their new facilities.

"For non-profit day-cares," says Thompson, "[the loan] provides 75 per cent of the cash to construct it and outfit it. That's everything - the things that go in the kitchen, the toys, the beds, everything."

"The remaining 25 per cent can come as another loan [with interest] or as a contribution from somewhere else. To be prepared, Dalhousie has to be on board. They have to have allocated space, or at least see possible spaces where this can happen. We need to get a quote together so it's clear how much we have to apply for."

Thompson has a lot at stake too - her son James is currently 23rd on the list for a placement that takes only nine children.

"It's going to be tight"

Katherine Sheehan, assistant vice-president of human resources at Dalhousie, is the administration member that has been most involved with the group pushing this issue forward. She says Thompson and her colleagues have been "very successful" in getting child-care on the agenda, and that their calls have not fallen on deaf ears. But there is lots of competition.

"As an employer I think we are on the right track, I think there is lots of support," says Sheehan. "So the question is, in the big scheme of all the priorities that we have, is there going to be enough money to put towards another day-care or expanding the current day-care."

As for whether or not a solution can be drawn up in time for the provincial loan, Sheehan says that is a little more doubtful.

"I don't want to say it's not for sure, but I think it's going to be tight. I don't think that the provincial government's opportunity that they're presenting here and our planning process are not lined up."

"Unfortunately, we don't have any other options at this point for day-care facilities. We want to pay attention to it, it's on the list and we're going to have to wait to see how some of this campus planning and funding falls out in terms of priorities."

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