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Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa updated its child-care plan — here's what parents need to know

The city has released the next road map guiding its management of local child-care services. Article content Article content The plan, presented to the community services committee on April 22, outlines the city's priorities for improving child care and early learning services in Ottawa from 2025 to 2029. Article content The city is responsible for allocating provincial funding, connecting families to providers and planning the management of child-care programs in Ottawa. Article content Article content What does child care in Ottawa look like now? Article content Article content While Ottawa's child-care sector is meeting slightly more than three-quarters of the demand for affordable services, the number of newborns to five-year-olds waiting for a space has grown by more than 300 per cent since 2019, according to the report. Article content Half of Ottawa's neighbourhoods are underserved, the report says, and access to child-care services is particularly challenging for rural, Indigenous and francophone children. Michel Laflamme, executive director of Aladin Childcare Services, said the state of child care in Ottawa has 'gotten better and gotten worse.' Article content While families have lower fees, he said, there hasn't been a push to build more child-care centres to accommodate the growing demand. Article content Now, about 1,200 families are on the waitlist for his centres, which can accommodate only 400 children, Laflamme said. The waitlists for francophone services are even longer with demand almost five times more than the available spaces. Article content Article content Susan McLean, executive director of the Carleton Memorial Daycare Centre, also said providers are 'really struggling' to meet the demand for child care in Ottawa. Article content Article content 'People are taking spots at the other end of the city because they can't get spots in their area,' she said. 'I feel sick every time I have to say no to somebody.' Article content Frozen fees due to the federal government's affordable child-care initiatives have made it hard to bring in enough money to cover business costs, McLean said, making her unsure if the federal program is the best model. Retaining qualified staff has also been a challenge in recent years, she added, because of low pay and the challenging work environment.