Ontario Caregivers - daycare announcement due today

[Teagansmom]

Would have to be a whole week off by the time we travelled to Toronto and did the rally and stormed the legislature etc with our demands. Not to mention the week off our spouses would need to do childcare for us while we were gone.

Maybe everyone can march to their local city hall, parliamentary building or MPP office in their own cities. I know city hall have nothing to do with this act but I'm sure if there is a large gathering the media would follow.

[playfelt]

As with a lot of bills it starts out as one thing but they bury other details in it that only come to light down the road which is one of the things basically the opposition said - we want to know everything we are agreeing to and will be reading all of it. Yes there is lots in there about safety and the inspections and powers of inspection and I really don't think it is as scary as it seems as it is a response to the Vaughan incident when media learned no one had the authority to really do anything except pass the buck to another ministry.

Then in the same bill they decided to address the inequities between licensed and unlicensed home daycare and that is the part the effects us directly. Think of this as two bills wrapped up in one - a very common tactic.

[treeholm]

So really, it is the opposition parties we need to go to with our concerns, so they can make it look like the Liberals haven't thought this through. Both conservatives and the NDP will love to come in looking like a hero!

[sunnydays]

I know there will be a lot of providers who decide to just continue business as usual and take their chances...but I am not one of them. I am not willing to gamble my families entire financial stability if there is even a 1% chance that someone will report me for being over my numbers and being slapped with a $250, 000 fine!!! I have two young kids of my own and 5 daycare kids...I have always wondered if someone would report me thinking I am over limit, but I have never worried because I know I am not. With this new law, I will be over limit and the risk is way too huge. Once my son turns 6 in May, I could have 4 daycare kids...and maybe like Playfelt said, I could join an agency (shudder..groan...gr rrr) to get the 6 kid limit and have one kid through them...that would put me almost at what I am now (just minus the money the agency scoops from that one child). I could probably make up that difference by raising my rates by $5 per child per day for under 2 spots. BUT, the problem will be finding kids over 2 for three of my spaces. I might have to suck it up and provide before and after care...I don't know.
I am not sure about a rally...I worry that it will come across as us providers not wanting to improve the safety of the kids in daycare.

[bright sparks]

I know there will be a lot of providers who decide to just continue business as usual and take their chances...but I am not one of them. I am not willing to gamble my families entire financial stability if there is even a 1% chance that someone will report me for being over my numbers and being slapped with a $250, 000 fine!!!.

My husband and I have already talked about this and if the details of the bill outlining the specifics surrounding what we could get fined for are petty things that could easily occur from people misinterpreting what they see and reporting us then it's too huge a risk to take. I have never been reported and always play by the rules but I have heard so many stories on here of neighbours being morons that it just wouldn't be worth the risk if it's as easy as that to get a fine so big that I could risk loosing my home.

[playfelt]

Quote: "I am not sure about a rally...I worry that it will come across as us providers not wanting to improve the safety of the kids in daycare. "

It needs to be a rally by the parents that will be effected by this new system but then us supporting them.

As far as your son goes, no one is going to know who is registered and who is not so having the 6th child will be the norm for some and not others as well as no one knowing how old a child is so for that we stand to benefit from the peering eyes.

[Teagansmom]

My husband and I have already talked about this and if the details of the bill outlining the specifics surrounding what we could get fined for are petty things that could easily occur from people misinterpreting what they see and reporting us then it's too huge a risk to take. I have never been reported and always play by the rules but I have heard so many stories on here of neighbours being morons that it just wouldn't be worth the risk if it's as easy as that to get a fine so big that I could risk loosing my home.

My brother in law was telling me that I should consider becoming a corporation, this would protect me from losing my home.

[Teagansmom]

Yes, maybe a rally may not be a good idea. I'm just thinking of a way to get the media to hear us out. I am all for more safety measures put in place.

[playfelt]

We need to get the parents to be upset and afraid and voice their opinions. Otherwise it is just a bunch of us whining about a loss of income but who is going to have sympathy when the safety of kids is involved. One of the reasons they linked both parts of the reform to one bill. On the other hand from a positive standpoint getting the bill passed on the safety angle is going to be fairly easy meaning the other changes just get included. Really the options were to totally remove the unlicensed option which is what most had feared was going to happen. This may be the best we can get and still exist.

[username]

I think we should be pushing for registration where by we would apply each year for a permit. It would be displayed in our front window (like most businesses that require permits) to notify parents and neighbours of each home's capacity whether it be 3-8 children. It would also state if the provider had her own children under the age of 6. All paperwork (proof of liability, fire inspection, CPR training etc.) would me submitted electronically or my mail and a permit would be issued on an annual basis. Providers would pay for a site inspection possibly to a registering body through the government, an agency or perhaps the OEYC. The amount of children you could care for would be determined by the ages of the provider's own children, location, space available, training, perhaps a fenced yard etc. but each site could be assessed separately...again, paid for by the provider. The permit would contain the number of children allowed and who to call should you believe the provider is in violation of the permit.