There is a severe shortage of daycare spaces in Estevan and while some relief appears on the horizon, it still won't be nearly enough to cover the demand, according to the city's licensed daycare providers.
If there were more spaces available, the next challenge would be in finding qualified care givers, said Marilyn Olson, who operates one of the city's dozen or so daycare centres.
One of the city's busiest daycare operations, the Estevan Day Care Co-operative has a two-year waiting list at present. They tend to an average of 60 youngsters aged three and up, on any given day, plus about 15 more on a "non-school day," said Tanya Nichol, one of the 15 staff members at the centre that is attempting to hire two more qualified care givers under the guidance of director Lisa Pond.
"There's always a shortage of qualifed people," said Nichol.
That centre is operating at its maximum allowable capacity and has a waiting list of 117 children.
Olson, operates an eight-child facility, the maximum allowed without a provincial license.
"If you get the license, you can increase to 12, but then you come under strict government guidelines and that means you have to have at least two employees, you have your total care giving space measured, the food you offer is more closely monitored. There are all kinds of regulations that have to be met," Olson said.
The long-time daycare provider said she is currently operating on a temporary provincial extension with a couple of children more than the allowable eight, on a temporary basis.
"I would say there is a waiting list of more than 50 or 60 kids whose parents are looking for daycare," said Olson. That would be in addition to the 117 on the wait list already posted by the Co-operative centre. The added problem of trying to find daycare within certain school areas is a non-starter now in Estevan.
"People are having to quit jobs in the city because they can't find care givers," said Olson, who added she received two phone calls earlier this week from mothers who were desperately looking for a daycare service.
"It's maximized around here," she added.
A new daycare centre is being planned on the Hillcrest School property later this year that is expected to offer as many as 45 spaces. The contract has been awarded for the placement of three relocatable classrooms on the property. The project has been bumped back a few times, but now appears ready to move forward. The centre will be placed through the auspices of the Ministry of Education's early learning childcare program.
Kathy Fowler, principal at Hillcrest School, said that although the school will not have any direct relationship with the daycare centre, other than sharing the school property, she had heard that the target date for the opening is late spring.
But Judy Valentine, the early learning childcare representative, located in Weyburn, said there is no prediction being made yet for the opening date for the facility that will be known as the Estevan Child Care Centre.
"The centre is waiting for their modulars to be constructed and delivered to the site. Because they are waiting on contractors and co-operating weather, the opening date is impossible to predict at this time," Valentine said in an e-mail to The Mercury.
During the January meeting of the Â鶹´«Ã½AV East Cornerstone School Division, it was noted that G. Hahn Contracting of Fort Qu'Appelle had won the tender for the project at a price of $533,000. At that time, Cornerstone trustees expressed an opinion that the centre should be ready for occupancy this spring following the construction phase and the accompanying required paving of a nearby lot.
Olson said most daycare centres open around 7 a.m. and will tend to children until as late as 6 p.m. or later if some unknown circumstances prevent a parent from collecting their child at the regular time.
The average daily rate is about $40, which Olson said is a pretty standard price around the city for daycare services. Some operators work on a weekly or monthly rate system as well.
"When the demand goes up even more, when the construction starts on the Boundary Dam project for instance, I'm sure there will be more families more kids and we're full to overflowing now. We want the families to come here, so we have to provide the service. I've approached a few other daycare operators in the city about what we might do, but for the most part we're all pretty independent and nobody wants to rock the boat, so we just continue doing what we do," said Olson who said she thought she was retiring from the business a couple of years ago, but got talked out of it, for obvious reasons.
"Everybody has a waiting list and if the local Co-operative day care has a two-year waiting list, you can only guess at how many parents are trying to find day care for their kids," Olson said in conclusion.
